I mentioned last week how one thought leads to another and another in my mind.
At that time I was talking about “foiled again” and then to using foils in competitive fencing.
Not only does one thought lead to another, but so do sermons.
Sunday evening’s message dealt with the subject of duty, and tonight we take that idea just a little farther.
Paul’s sister’s son had a duty towards his uncle, but with very little privilege or opportunities.
Claudius Lysias, the Chief Captain, also had a duty to fulfill but with more privileges – limited privileges.
And the Roman Governor, Felix, had a duty toward Paul with all the privileges and powers of the highest office over Israel.
Each of these three have something that they can teach us about duty and the misuse of duty.
Most people would talk about coincidence, but I believe that God put him in a place to over-hear some important information.
Whether or not it was the Lord, the knowledge that he was given involved the life of another person.
The fact that God’s hand could be clearly seen, may have added impetus; but duty is duty.
When we have the opportunity to save the life of another person, the opportunity becomes a responsibility.
To hear about people seeing knifings or sexual assaults and to turn the other way, are disgusting.
It’s not only disgusting, it’s criminal.
Our Lord’s parable about the Good Samaritan applies.
It doesn’t matter whether this young man was 12 or 20, it was his duty to save a life.
It doesn’t matter whether saving this life was going to be easy or difficulty, it was his duty to try.
The kids in Judy’s class at school, had a small illustration of this sort of thing this past week.
Someone brought a praying mantis to school, and the whole class was excited about it.
For a couple of days the kids were offering him all kinds of dead bugs to eat,
This poor creature wanted to catch his own supper.
Someone suggested that he be released, but the class promised to do better at trying to save its life.
Monday morning the praying mantis was dead.
Maybe it was just an unusual bug,
especially since they had deprived it of its freedom and the opportunity to fend for itself.
But then after he had been able to share that news with the Chief Captain, Lysias wisely said,
“See thou tell no man that thou hast shewed these things to me.”
At first the boy had a duty to speak, and then he had the responsibility to be quiet.
There is a time to speak and there is a time to be silent.
If he had run out of the Castle and started telling his friends that he had talked to the Chief Captain,
which could have ended in a really bloody battle.
if the old preacher had gotten away.
He had been in the Castle; he had talked to the most powerful Roman in the city of Jerusalem; he had saved a man’s life.
Don’t you think that he wanted to tell his closest friends about that?
Don’t you think that he wanted to tell his mother about that?
But even months later, if he had spoken about it, it might have put his own life in danger.
Just as he did have a duty to tell what he knew, his duty now was to keep quiet.
And then, is there really anything to boast about, when we have done our duty?
When we have gone beyond the call of duty; when we have risked our lives; then perhaps there is something to talk about.
I think that there is some purpose and point to the Congressional Medal of Honor and the Victoria Cross.
But how appropriate would it be for me to constantly tell you, “This check that I’m putting in the offering is my tithe”?
No one deserves the Congressional Medal of Honor for attending Wednesday evening church services.
No one deserves the Victoria Cross for merely doing his duty.
If the Lord wants to praise this man, amen, but he certainly doesn’t need to praise himself.
This young man had a duty to perform.
He did it, and yes, I, for one, am thankful that he carried it out.
Just as he had more duties, Claudius Lysias had more options at his disposal.
But even though he could do some things, but he couldn’t do everything.
What if he chose to release Paul?
First, that was not one of his options, because he had yet to determine what the problem was.
And then he had spoken to the Sanhedrin which had the same result.
He had no way of knowing that in releasing Paul, he wasn’t freeing a terrorist of some sort.
It was his job to maintain order in the city, and obviously Paul was a problem to law and order.
And then even if Paul wasn’t guilty of some sort of crime in the sight of Rome, releasing him would appear to put him into danger.
If he was a Roman citizen as he claimed, then it would be contrary to Claudius’ duty as a Roman official to endanger one of his own.
The Chief Captain had more options than Paul’s nephew, but he was under some limitations.
So one of the lessons of this is that we have to learn the limitations of OUR responsibilities.
Let’s say that you have sinned by spreading some sort of lie about me.
If you confess your sin & apologize for the harm that it has caused me, it becomes my duty to forgive you.
But if I leave you with the impression that I could forgive you on behalf of the Lord, then I have definitely overstepped my responsibility.
If these things actually occurred then it would be my duty to tell you to confess your sin to the Lord and to seek His forgiveness.
I have responsibilities in this matter, but those responsibilities only reach so far.
As I suggested the other night, once he knew about the plot, Claudius had several options.
He could have told the council that another meeting would be fine, but it would be in the Castle.
He could have sent some of his men out under the cover of darkness to secretly station themselves along the road that Paul would have to travel with the hopes of discovering the murderers before the murder.
He could have rejected the idea of a meeting entirely and began an investigation into the conspiracy.
He could have made the guards so strong that no one would have dared to attack Paul.
He had lots of options, but the one that he chose was to send Paul to the coast and to Felix the Governor.
The Chief Captain teaches us to learn the limitations of our responsibilities.
Don’t do more than your duty demands.
But on the other hand make sure that do all that your duty allows.
There were rules and directives which he had to obey – or face the wrath of the Roman Emperor.
But for the most part, when it came to little things like Apostles, he could do just about whatever he wanted.
So when Paul reached Caesarea the next day, Felix had lots of options.
He could have outrightly released Paul.
He could have ordered an immediate trial – a fair trial.
And when the trial which is described in the next chapter concluded, he had even more options.
But for a man in his position, the very worse thing that he could do was nothing.
And that is essentially what he did – nothing.
“But after two years Porcius Festus came into Felix’ room: and Felix, willing to shew the Jews a pleasure, left Paul bound.”
So to speak, he heard the screams of a murder in progress, and he turned his back on it.
If Paul’s nephew had done nothing, Paul would probably have been killed.
If Lysias had done nothing, who knows what would have happened.
But when Felix did nothing, we know what happened – Paul’s ministry was greatly limited for years.
So the point is:
It is better to do the little that we can, and to do it well,
than to have the ability to great things and not do them at all.
“Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.”