Untitled Sermon (3)

If you’ll remember, a couple of weeks ago when we left Paul he had been transferred by the commander of the Roman regiment in Jerusalem to face the Roman governor in Caesarea. The commander also ordered the Jewish religious leaders who were accusing Paul to go down the Caesarea to make their accusations in front of Felix. They did, except it wasn’t really accusations so much as it was buttering up the governor hoping that he would side with them. Felix decided to keep Paul in protective custody and then right at the end of the passage we read we saw Felix replaced by Festus after Paul had been there for 2 years. And that’s where we’ll pick up reading this morning.

Acts 25:1-3

Acts 25:1–3 CSB

1 Three days after Festus arrived in the province, he went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea. 2 The chief priests and the leaders of the Jews presented their case against Paul to him; and they appealed, 3 asking for a favor against Paul, that Festus summon him to Jerusalem. They were, in fact, preparing an ambush along the road to kill him.

Don’t you know these Jewish leaders have been stewing for the last two years? They thought they had Paul. The mob was about to take him out and then the Roman soldiers showed up. Then they had a plan to ambush the soldiers and kill Paul. Not necessarily a good plan, but a plan nonetheless. Then they went down to accuse Paul before Felix thinking, “This is it. The Romans won’t stand for this and they’ll give him back to us and we can finally be rid of him.” Well, not so much. Like I said before, Felix decides to keep Paul in protective custody and the Jews spend 2 years plotting new ways to kill Paul.

But now, there’s a new leader in town. Festus arrives in Jerusalem and this is just the opportunity the Jews have been waiting for. Festus doesn’t have the ties to the Jews that Felix did (remember, Felix’s wife was a Jew) so he won’t understand the culture the same way, so maybe they can get him to go along with them. So they ingratiate themselves to Festus. They butter him up, just like they had done to Felix and they ask for a favor. “Just bring him back to Jerusalem. Let us take him off your hands. We’ll take care of him.” But as we read in that last verse, “they were, in fact, preparing an ambush along the road to kill him.”

So we’re back to this ambush thing again. I still don’t get this. They were wanting to try an ambush when Paul was going to Caesarea and now they’re wanting to try one as he is on his way back. This still just doesn’t seem like a well thought out plan to me. You’ve got a bunch of ragtag Jews going up against what was the greatest military force the world had ever seen at that time and they think they can win through and kill Paul. Now maybe they would have succeeded but I can guarantee that they would have paid a very high price to kill this one man if they had been able to go through with this ambush plan. But they never got the chance, as we’ll see in these next few verses.

Acts 25:4-

Acts 25:4–5 CSB

4 Festus, however, answered that Paul should be kept at Caesarea, and that he himself was about to go there shortly. 5 “Therefore,” he said, “let those of you who have authority go down with me and accuse him, if he has done anything wrong.”

Now we don’t know why Festus reacted this way. Maybe he was warned by Felix about the Jewish leaders before he took over. The first verse of this chapter says that he went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea so maybe he got a turnover brief from Felix when he first arrived. Or maybe he had actually met Paul during those first three days in Caesarea. Remember we read that Felix would call for Paul frequently. So maybe during those first few days during one of their turnover sessions Felix called Paul in and introduced him to Festus.

Or maybe it was just a feeling that Festus got from dealing with the Jewish leaders. Remember reading about the lawyer Tertullus and how he talked to Felix in the last chapter? That’s likely the way they were talking to Festus now. Have you ever had to deal with that? Someone’s talking to you and they may be saying all the right things, building you up, complimenting you, but in the back of your mind you’re thinking, “This just doesn’t feel right. What do they want?” That could be what’s going on with Festus here. The slimy lawyer is throwing on the schmooze and buttering Festus up hoping to get him to accept whatever he’s asking for. But Festus just gets that feeling that something’s not quite right.

Personally, I think it was a combination of the things I just described. Festus arrived, got the pass down from Felix, maybe even met Paul, and he was probably thinking, “Yeah right. There’s no way the Jewish leaders are that adamant about killing one guy.” Then he got to Jerusalem and met the Jewish leaders and went, “OHHH, now I get it.”

So Festus pushes back. He says, “You know what, I’m heading back to Caesarea in a few days anyway, so we’re going to leave Paul there for now. But if he really has done anything wrong come down and bring your accusations to the court there.”

Now let’s keep reading.

Acts 25:6–8 CSB

6 When he had spent not more than eight or ten days among them, he went down to Caesarea. The next day, seated at the tribunal, he commanded Paul to be brought in. 7 When he arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him and brought many serious charges that they were not able to prove. 8 Then Paul made his defense: “Neither against the Jewish law, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I sinned in any way.”

Acts 25:6-

Festus returns to Caesarea after a week and a half in Jerusalem and the next day he enters the tribunal, the courtroom, and orders Paul to be brought in. And something about verse 7 just gives me the impression that the Jewish leaders didn’t sit around and wait while Festus was spending time in Jerusalem. I just get the sense that when Festus told them to come to Caesarea to bring their accusations that at least some of them took off immediately and were sitting there waiting when Festus got back. So Paul comes in and the Jews immediately start accusing him of all kinds of things, but as the end of verse 7 tells us, they weren’t able to prove any of it. So it’s the same thing all over again. We saw this before the Roman commander in Jerusalem. We saw it before Felix. And now we see it before Festus. They are bringing false accusations. And Paul tells Festus as much when he says, “Neither against the Jewish law, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I sinned in any way.”

Once again Paul is saying, “I haven’t done anything wrong.” The Jews just keep bringing up the same false accusations, with no proof, and Paul just keeps saying, “Nope. Didn’t do it.” So what is Festus to do? Well he is the perfect politician, always trying not to offend anyone so we read this in verse 9

Acts 25:9 CSB

9 But Festus, wanting to do the Jews a favor, replied to Paul, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem to be tried before me there on these charges?”

Festus is trying to make everyone happy. He figures if he can get this trial moved to Jerusalem the Jewish leaders will be happy, and if Paul can present his case in front of the people, maybe they will drop it and everyone will just be one big, happy family again. But Paul doesn’t go for it. Paul knows better. He knows that if he goes back to Jerusalem, if he even makes it that far, it’s over. And besides, God has told him repeatedly that he’s supposed to be going to Rome to share the message of the gospel there. So let’s read Paul’s response.

Acts 25:10–12 CSB

10 Paul replied: “I am standing at Caesar’s tribunal, where I ought to be tried. I have done no wrong to the Jews, as even you yourself know very well. 11 If then I did anything wrong and am deserving of death, I am not trying to escape death; but if there is nothing to what these men accuse me of, no one can give me up to them. I appeal to Caesar!” 12 Then after Festus conferred with his council, he replied, “You have appealed to Caesar; to Caesar you will go.”

Acts 25:10–11 CSB

10 Paul replied: “I am standing at Caesar’s tribunal, where I ought to be tried. I have done no wrong to the Jews, as even you yourself know very well. 11 If then I did anything wrong and am deserving of death, I am not trying to escape death; but if there is nothing to what these men accuse me of, no one can give me up to them. I appeal to Caesar!”

Some years ago there was a popular fad among Christians to wear t-shirts, or bracelets, or really anything else that they could get it printed on that had the letters “WWJD.” This stood for “What would Jesus do?” The letters served as a reminder to people to look at their circumstances even when they were tough, and ask that question, “What would Jesus do?” And that’s a great reminder. It’s a great thing to do. But you know what? Sometimes we’re not supposed to do what Jesus did even when we are in the same circumstances. That was the case for Paul here. We’ve looked before at what Paul is going through here with the false accusations and the Jewish leaders trying to silence him any way they can and we’ve compared that to what Jesus went through leading up to his trial and ultimate crucifixion. Jesus went through the same false accusations and faced the same animosity from the Jewish leaders. But we see here that Paul’s reaction is totally different from that of Jesus. When Jesus was before the Roman ruler, Pontius Pilate, he never offered any defense. He remained almost completely silent during the trial. When Pilate asked him point blank, “Are you the King of the Jews,” Jesus replied, “It is as you say.” So if we are supposed to model ourselves and our behaviors after the example of Christ, why then did Paul not remain silent before Festus? Paul speaks up. In fact he becomes almost defiant telling Festus, “I have done no wrong to the Jews, as eve you yourself know very well.” Paul takes exactly the opposite approach to what Jesus did when he was on trial. So how do we reconcile that? Why did Paul speak out where Jesus remained silent?

Some years ago there was a popular fad among Christians to wear t-shirts, or bracelets, or really anything else that they could get it printed on that had the letters “WWJD.” This stood for “What would Jesus do?” The letters served as a reminder to people to look at their circumstances even when they were tough, and ask that question, “What would Jesus do?” And that’s a great reminder. It’s a great thing to do. But you know what? Sometimes we’re not supposed to do what Jesus did even when we are in the same circumstances. That was the case for Paul here. We’ve looked before at what Paul is going through here with the false accusations and the Jewish leaders trying to silence him any way they can and we’ve compared that to what Jesus went through leading up to his trial and ultimate crucifixion. Jesus went through the same false accusations and faced the same animosity from the Jewish leaders. But we see here that Paul’s reaction is totally different from that of Jesus. When Jesus was before the Roman ruler, Pontius Pilate, he never offered any defense. He remained almost completely silent during the trial. When Pilate asked him point blank, “Are you the King of the Jews,” Jesus replied, “It is as you say.” So if we are supposed to model ourselves and our behaviors after the example of Christ, why then did Paul not remain silent before Festus? Paul speaks up. In fact he becomes almost defiant telling Festus, “I have done no wrong to the Jews, as eve you yourself know very well.” Paul takes exactly the opposite approach to what Jesus did when he was on trial. So how do we reconcile that? How

Well we have to remember, that God’s plans for Jesus and Paul were very different. Jesus knew that the trial he was going through was leading to the cross. That was the plan. That was why he came to earth in the first place. His whole 33 years on earth, his three years of ministry, everything he had done was leading to the ultimate end of his dying on the cross to pay the price for the sins of humanity. But that wasn’t the plan for Paul. That plan had already been finished. The price had been paid and Christ had risen from the grave, conquering death so that we could have access to eternal life. And that’s where Paul fits into the plan. The plan of salvation had already been fulfilled, but know God’s plan for Paul involved spreading the message of that salvation to the far corners of the earth. And to do that Paul had to go to Rome. So Paul couldn’t do what Jesus did. He couldn’t remain silent. If he did, he would end up back in Jerusalem and he would likely end up dead. He’s not scared of dying, but he knows that if he dies he can’t fulfill God’s plan for his life. So he appeals to Caesar.

Acts 25:12 CSB

12 Then after Festus conferred with his council, he replied, “You have appealed to Caesar; to Caesar you will go.”

Festus had no choice at this point. As a Roman citizen Paul had the right to appeal to Caesar and at that point he had basically done an end run around Festus authority. What happened to Paul was no longer up to Festus. There would be no return to Jerusalem. There would be no more mock trials in front of the Jewish leaders. Paul was officially on his way to Rome. And that’s where we’ll leave the story for now.

So what does this passage have to say to us today, in the 21st century, in America? Things are different now. The gospel has spread around the world, though there are still millions who need to hear it. We don’t have an emperor, a Caesar to appeal to. But some things haven’t changed. We still see believers facing false accusations. We still see opposition to the message of the gospel. And as I said before, we can’t just ask ourselves, “What would Jesus do,” because even in the same circumstances, God’s plan for our lives is not the same as his plan for the life of Christ. So we can’t just do do Jesus did. The key is that we have to be focused on God’s plan for our lives. Now we’re not always going to know where that plan is heading. God doesn’t always tell us, “I want you to go to Rome,” like he did for Paul. But we need to spend time in prayer, and in reading the word, and in fellowshipping with other believers and in doing so we will better be able to determine God’s plan for our lives. And when we know the plan, we will know much better whether we need to be silent like Christ, or speak up like Paul.

Would you join me in prayer?