Great Reasoning – Acts 28:23-29

As the Lord was first teaching the principles of Christianity to his disciples, He gave them some warnings.

For example, he said that they wouldn’t be any better received than He was being received.

In John 15:18 Jesus said, “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.

If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me.”

And in Matthew 10, He said, “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues;

And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.

For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.

And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.

The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?”

Paul, of course, had experienced the same kind of hatred that his Saviour had.

In his case, not only could it have been prophesied by any 10-year-old,

but Galatians 6:7 was also added to the mix:

“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”

I don’t believe in the Hindu / Buddhist heresy of “karma.”

Karma is the idea that the way that person’s life is lived will be re-invested in him when he is reincarnated to the next life.

Synonyms for “karma” are “destiny” and“fate.”

But there are no successive existences for a single life to live.

I don’t believe in the heresy of karma, but I do believe in DIVINE JUSTICE.

We should not be surprised when we feel the same kind of pain that we’ve inflicted on others.

And it certainly can’t do us any harm to be a blessing to others,

even if we aren’t immediately blessed in return.

Paul experienced the same kind of hatred that he had earlier bestowed on Christ and His first disciples.

Now, turn to John 7:40-53 and see if what we read there doesn’t sound a lot like what probably when on right here in Acts 28.

“Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth this is the Prophet.

Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee?

Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was? So there was a division among the people because of him.

And some of them would have taken him; but no man laid hands on him.

Then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees; and they said unto them, Why have ye not brought him? The officers answered, Never man spake like this man.

Then answered them the Pharisees, Are ye also deceived? Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him? But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed.

Nicodemus saith unto them, (he that came to Jesus by night, being one of them,)

Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?

They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and look: for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet. And every man went unto his own house.”

After Paul’s marathon session of Bible exposition and preaching, it became time for everyone to go home.

“And when he had said these words, the Jews departed, and had GREAT REASONING among themselves.”

This evening let’s briefly think about this great reasoning that the Jews had.

It was great reasoning, but was it good reasoning?

Great reasoning.

The word “great” is the Greek word “polus;” pronounced just like the Palouse district of Washington.

It is a pretty common word, but unfortunately it is translated several ways.

Over 280 times, about 75% of the time, it is translated “many” or “much.”

Only about 1 out of 6 times is it translated “great.”

As a result we’re left wondering about a couple of things:

Is Luke saying that the Jews left with really heated arguments about what Paul had said?

Perhaps the next word helps us to answer that question:

That word is found only three times in the Greek New Testament.

It is translated “disputation,” “disputing,” and here it is “reasoning.”

Both other uses of this word are found in Acts 15:

Verse 2 – “When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question.”

Verse 7 – “And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.”

So to answer our question about the word “great,” I would guess that, yes, there were some very heated arguments about Paul’s presentation of the gospel.

And I can just about hear a group of 5 or 6 self-proclaimed rabbis arguing over Paul’s doctrine.

There is a piece of classical music written by Mussorgski which I like, called “Pictures at an Exhibition.”

I believe that I’ve mentioned this before:

The composer had a artist friend who had died, and he wanted to honor him, so he described several of his works of art through the art of music.

There was a painting of the Great Gate of Kiev, which may be Mussorgski’s best-known work;

There were some costumes of chickens used in a ballet, and the listener can hear those chickens.

And then there was picture of two old Jews arguing.

The music sounded exactly the way that I would imagine one of their arguments to go.

As those Jews, probably a mixture of Pharisees and Sadducees, believers and non-believers …

As those Jews went home there were some heated arguments about the gospel.

But Luke was more than likely saying that there were on-going disputations about what they heard.

They talked about it as they went to their homes, and then when they met for coffee the next morning.

Probably the next time they met at their synagogue or place of prayer the matter of Paul’s message came up again, and again, and again.

There was “much, more” AND “great” reasoning among them.

Perhaps for weeks there were some very heated arguments,

But that doesn’t mean that it was necessarily profitable.

It could have been a total waste of time and breath – it could have been BAD REASONING.

How many churches are there in the United States?

How many are there in Post Falls, Idaho?

How many of those churches were teaching and preaching something other than the Truth of God today?

How many seminaries are there in the world, which profess to teach about God, but the professors know nothing about Jehovah?

Every two years a bunch of scholarly yahoos meet together calling themselves “The Jesus Seminar.”

This has been going on for over 20 years, with over 200 “scholars” spending a week talking about the historical Jesus.

They may have a lot of “PhDs” initials behind their names….

They may be given lots of money from their various universities and seminaries….

They may be authors of lots of books and reports….

But their conclusions prove that all their cogitations, contemplations, ruminations, meditations and cerebrations have been nothing but wasted speculation.

Great reasoning can mean nothing more than bad reasoning.

There is not anything wrong with meditating on the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In fact it is a very good thing.

There is nothing wrong with thinking about God the Father, or about the Saviour.

But if that thinking isn’t done in the context of a worshipful attitude, then it could be nothing but evil.

For example, do you suppose that SATAN ever meditates on the God-head, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit? Certainly.

Apparently Satan foolishly thinks that God can be defeated,

and so, he probably spends considerable time thinking about the Lord, and exploring various avenues through which to bring about his destruction.

He looks for chinks in the Lord’s armor, but there aren’t any.

Satan’s cogitations are evil, as everything else about him is evil.

Did Annas or Caiaphas spend much time thinking about Christ? Did Herod?

Those evil men not only thought about him through the day, but they probably had nightmares about Him.

And even though Pilate may not have had the same thoughts that the High Priests had about Jesus, his reasonings about the Lord didn’t produce anything good in him.

Because the thoughts of these men and angels were not mixed with faith.

Only the Lord knows how many of the Jews of Rome eventually trusted Christ Jesus.

If I had to guess, I’d say that there were a few who immediately believed Paul and believed on Christ.

But there were probably more who took what Paul said and put those words into their skeptical heads, ruminating on them for days, weeks or months before the Lord permitted the light to shine on their hearts.

Then perhaps there were a few others who were not converted until years had passed and the Lord brought things into their lives in order to break their stubborn wills.

Thinking about the Lord is not a bad thing in itself, but if it isn’t properly cultivated and watered with faith then all that it will do is increase the severity of their punishment throughout eternity.

But there is GOOD REASONING as well.

If Paul’s visitors returned to their homes and opened up their Old Testament scriptures, then that could have been the foundation of very good reasoning.

I have no doubt that Paul gave them the Word of God throughout that day.

But if their reasonings AFTER that day didn’t center in what the scripture said about Christ,

and the nature of salvation and the Kingdom of God,

then, once again, their cogitations would have been in vain.

Good reasoning must be SCRIPTURALLY-BASED REASONING.

We have no other accurate source of information about the Lord.

Those men and women of the “Jesus Seminar” are doomed to their erroneous thinking, because they are studying human histories, archeological records and fictitious accounts, rather than the Bible.

Secondly, in order for it to be good and profitable, it would have to have been REVERENTIAL REASONING.

Of course when Paul’s meeting began all these people were unbelievers, as far as Jesus of Nazareth was concerned.

But if they had true reverence for God and a respect for His Word, then there was hope,

because whether they believed it or not, or whether they understood it or not,

the Father and the Son cannot be separated very far.

If they had any real love for Jehovah, then under the direction of the Holy Spirit, and with a respect for the Word of God, it would have developed into a love for Christ Jesus as well.

Third, to be profitable meditation, it had to be HUMBLE.

On the opposite side of the reverence-to-God-coin is a humility when it comes to one’s self.

There is nothing wrong with being confident that we hold the Truth.

But the Truth shouldn’t make anyone proud, because it is not our creation,

and when it comes to the Truth of God, it was not our brains or our wisdom which made us grasp it.

If we believe the Truth, it’s because of the graciousness of the Lord.

We have nothing in which to be proud, except of the Lord Himself, and then it has to be an holy pride.

When a good man, like Paul, brings a good argument from the perfect word of God,

even though it contradicts what we currently think to be true,

then we need to be humble enough to consider it.

So the Jews that day went home with great reasonings.

For that to be profitable to them, it needed to be Biblical, holy, and coming from a humble heart.

If those three things are involved in our contemplation of the Word of God, it is just about guaranteed that good things will result.