v 25 As 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.”
For sure, Paul’s preaching touched a raw nerve in Felix’ character – perhaps thoughts about consequences surfaced for a moment, and like a bad dream it was hard to supress the resulting emotions. Paul’s reasoning about righteousness and self-control and the coming day of judgment was altogether too much for Felix – much too much for a man with a past that might catch up with him.
The three topics that are picked out from Paul’s sermon are themselves interesting – themes that rarely get a mention these days.
Righteousness: yes, there are standards set by God for right behaviour. We can’t all just do as we please, God’s standards are challenging and preachers are not entirely happy about announcing them for fear of causing offence. But just as a parent sometimes need to challenge a child, or a teacher needs to challenge a student, so a preacher will sometimes challenge a congregation – and it doesn’t make for easy listening!
Self-control: the call is to get a grip on ourselves and do more than think about ourselves as Number 1. It is a challenge to control our thinking as well as actions, our desires and motives as well as our self-centred planning.
The coming Day of Judgment. The idea of us all coming under the eye of God in Judgment is hardly a top-of-the-Pops theme for a sermon lest the preacher is accused of being judgemental.
Yet these are all valid themes in Christian preaching – they are the tough news that lies behind the Good News.
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