Scripture
24A few days later Felix came back with his wife, Drusilla, who was Jewish. Sending for Paul, they listened as he told them about faith in Christ Jesus. 25As he reasoned with them about righteousness and self-control and the coming day of judgment, Felix became frightened. “Go away for now,” he replied. “When it is more convenient, I’ll call for you again.” 26He also hoped that Paul would bribe him, so he sent for him quite often and talked with him. Acts 24:24-26
Observation
Two years later… Governor Felix left Paul in jail because it was more politically expedient to do so. Felix gained favor with the people, but secured his own eternal damnation. God in his graciousness brought the message of hope right to his doorstep through Paul. We are told Felix was very familiar with The Way. He knew the facts but felt no urgency to meet The Way, The Truth, and The Life behind The Way. In fact, it’s clear that Felix was at a cross roads. Would he move from facts to faith? Would he move from self-righteousness to repentance? What made Felix so afraid? Paul was bringing the whole gospel and the gospel requires a response. There’s no such thing as a convenient Christianity. When Felix realized that to follow Jesus was to surrender control to the true King of Kings he was not going to have it. When Felix realized His position of power would not be powerful enough to save himself from the coming day of judgment he was quite possibly offended. After all, he was the judge and now someone greater was going to judge him? In the hedonistic culture of Rome the idea of self-control was laughable. “His wife Drusilla was the sister of Herod Agrippa II and Bernice mentioned in Acts 25. Drusilla was beautiful, ambitious, and about 20 years old at this point. Felix seduced her away from her husband and made her his third wife.” He was a man of power who could have what he wanted. If following Jesus meant he couldn’t just do what he felt like doing when he felt like doing it then Felix wanted nothing to do with it. Delayed obedience is still disobedience. Felix didn’t outright reject Christ, but he delayed repentance and therefore missed his chance to know true salvation, freedom and deliverance from sin.
Application
There’s no such thing as convenient Christianity and yet it seems we are pulling a Felix these days. Sending God’s Word, God’s messengers, God’s conviction away until it’s “more convenient” to listen. Like, Felix, we are often motivated by greed, comfort and people pleasing. Like Felix we are very familiar with The Way. Many of us can quote chapter and verse, but do we live those chapters and verses? Do we nod our heads when we hear a message about righteousness, self-control and the coming day of judgment but then find a clever way to wait until a future day to follow through with what we just learned? Are we keeping truth chained up because it’s getting dangerously close to messing up our self-serving lifestyle? Could this be why half of those who regularly attended church prior to the Pandemic have completely disconnected and disengaged? Could it be that guys in positions of leadership like me weren’t being as clear as Paul was when it comes to the message of the Gospel? If what I’m saying doesn’t require a choice, if it doesn’t move people to either run from Jesus or run away from Him then I’m pulling a Felix too! Ray just pulled the shades down in our Starbucks as the morning sun rose over the mountains and began to shine in the eyes of the guys across the table from me. It didn’t bother me because my back was turned. Ray, being a much better servant than I, got up and pulled down the shade. Why? Because the light is blinding. It requires a response. “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2).”
Prayer
There’s no better time to respond to You then in this moment! To procrastinate in repentance, to fear for my own comfort over fear of the coming judgement is to seriously have my priorities out of whack. Lord, I repent for places where I have soft-pedaled the message for fear of offending. I repent for places where I have been slow to respond to the conviction of Your word because of how much it would inconvenience my schedule. Now is the time.
Comments