“They Listened Up To This Statement” (Acts 22:22)

by Chris Simmons

As Paul made his defense before the Jewish people in Jerusalem in Acts 22, he recounted his conversion in which he asked the Lord, “what shall I do?” (verse 10), and the Lord said to “get up and go on in to Damascus, and there you will be told …” As promised, Ananias met him and instructed him in verse 16 to “Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.” Paul then told of his return to Jerusalem as a Christian and how that the Lord told him in verse 18 to “get out of Jerusalem” because the Jews would not “accept your testimony about Me” and (in verse 21) that “I will send you far away to the Gentiles.” Luke wrote in the following verse, “They listened to him up to this statement, and then they raised their voices and said, ‘Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he should not be allowed to live!’”

Paul had crossed the line of acceptability in their minds when he said that the Lord told him to go preach to the Gentiles. Their prejudice prevented them from listening any further. That last statement didn’t reconcile with their preconceived notions of Gentiles. They listened to Paul describing Jesus, whom they had killed, speaking to Paul on the road to Damascus. They continued listening even after Ananias had commanded Paul to be baptized in order to “wash away your sins.” But they wouldn’t listen any more after Paul referred to the divine command to preach to the Gentiles.

We see an audience with a similar reaction in Acts 17 when Paul preached in the idolatrous city of Athens where they continually sought to hear some new thing. Beginning in verse 22, Paul began to teach them about the “unknown God” and how that it was He who created all things and that it is He who all mankind was to “seek” since it was He who would “judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead” (verse 31). The next verse then reads, “Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some began to sneer …” Some listened, only up to the statement of the resurrection of Jesus. The idea of the resurrection didn’t agree with their human wisdom and they turned away their ears.

As Jesus preached, he also encountered those who listened up to a point. For example, in Matthew 19:16-22, we read of a young man with many possessions who came to Jesus with the question, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?” Jesus responded, “keep the commandments.” The young man listened and responded, “All these things I have kept; what am I still lacking?” Jesus answered, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” Up to that statement the young man was listening, but Jesus’ answer wasn’t what he wanted to hear and so we read, “when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property.” He wasn’t willing to listen to Jesus anymore and he went away.

At what point will you and I stop listening? For many, that point has been the point of change or the point of true repentance. Many have listened to preaching until the truth of the gospel attacked their conscience and made them uncomfortable. We think of Felix who listened to Paul’s reasoning on “righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come” (Acts 24:25) up to the point that it “frightened him” and he then listened no more. Many stop listening when righteousness demands we adopt and comply to a different standard than our own. Others stop listening when they realize that they will have to exercise a greater degree of self-control than they’ve demonstrated in the past. A lot of people stop listening when accountability and judgment are discussed because they want to do what they want to do and they’d rather stop listening than change and repent. We live in a world where people only listen to that which they agree with and will go out of their way to ensure that those who preach and teach do so according to their own will (II Timothy 4:1-3). The command to “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction” by necessity carries with it the need to listen to the word “in season and out of season” to reproofs, rebukes, or exhortations.

Many stop listening when the narrow path (Matthew 7:13-14) we travel on gets hard and we’re called upon to suffer for righteousness sake (Matthew 5:10; I Peter 3:14). We need to endure (Hebrews 10:36) in our listening especially when we’re going through difficult times and understand that listening to His word will help get us through our trials.

Yet others stop listening simply because they get too busy and the cares and concerns of this life crowd out the time it takes to listen. Jesus in the parable of the sower (Mark 4:19) spoke of the heart of one whose hearing is choked by “the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things.” This is exemplified by Martha in Luke 10:38-42 who wasn’t listening because she was “worried and bothered by about so many things.” Let us be careful of listening only when we’re not busy with our other worldly concerns.

In Acts 20:27, Paul declared to the Ephesian elders, “For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose (counsel; ASV, ESV, NKJV) of God.” The question for each one of us is, will we listen to (and heed) the whole council of God?