The King who was not converted

When we read the book of Acts, we see thousands of people who obeyed the gospel of Jesus Christ. The church began with about 3,000 souls converted in Acts 2:41. The number steadily increased.

Acts 2:47: “…praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.”

Acts 4:4: “But many of those who had heard the message believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.”

Acts 5:14: “And all the more believers in the Lord, multitudes of men and women, were constantly added to their number.”

Acts 6:7: “The word of God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith.”

Yet, there’s an interaction between the apostle Paul and King Agrippa in Acts 26:27-28. It says, “King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you do. Agrippa replied to Paul, ‘In a short time you will persuade me to become a Christian.’”

Did King Agrippa ever become a Christian? This is all we have recorded of this interaction. There are valuable lessons to learn from this interaction for us and those in the world.

1.        Those in the first century who heard and obeyed the gospel became Christians. The idea of Baptist Christians, Pentecostal Christians, Catholic Christians is not found in scripture. A person simply became a follower of Jesus Christ.

2.        Paul gave King Agrippa the opportunity to hear and believe the gospel. We have a responsibility to do the same to others. It doesn’t mean that everyone will respond with obedience, but nonetheless we must give people an opportunity to hear the truth. It’s not our job to decide who should hear and who shouldn’t hear.

3.        Paul presented the facts about Jesus and was not ashamed of the facts. He shared what happened to him on the road to Damascus, Acts 26:12-20. He spoke about his ministry, Acts 26: 19-23. Let us never be ashamed of the facts concerning Jesus and how one can obtain forgiveness of sins.

4.        How long did Paul speak? We don’t know. But what we know is King Agrippa’s response. “In a short time you will persuade me to become a Christian.” This is a sad story in Acts. It’s often the case people think they have time to respond to the gospel. But our lives are like a vapor. We are here one moment and gone the next. What got in the way of King Agrippa responding? The text doesn’t explicitly give us that answer. A more important question is what’s getting in our way of responding to the truth?

a.        For some, it can be worry about what others may think.

b.        For others, it could be fear of losing their families.

c.        Some may need more time to count the cost.

d.        Some may need to consider the evidence even more.

e.        It could be some have learned the truth and are not willing to pay the price that repentance carries with it.

Almost persuaded is not sufficient. We must be fully persuaded. Let’s be fully persuaded to follow Jesus with all our hearts and to share His message with others.