Acts 25:1-22 - Called to Suffer

Introduction

The American Dream says, “If you work hard, make good decisions, and avoid bad habits, then you will succeed. You will make money, have a good reputation, and earn a high social status.” The prosperity gospel says a lot of the same stuff, except with Christianity added in. “If you love God, work hard, and make good decisions, then God will bless you. You will be happy, healthy, and wealthy.” But I want to ask you a few questions.

Does Jesus ever intend His people to suffer? When Christians face opposition or persecution, should their main goal be relief? And if Christ truly is King of all creation, why does it seem like worldly authorities and sinful interests carry so much sway in the world?

Today, we’re picking up with our study through the book of Acts, and we’re reading through a portion of the last section of Luke’s account of Paul’s life and ministry. It seems that a major feature of Luke’s writing since around chapter 21 has been to chart something of the geographical and political and legal course which Paul traveled on his way from the mission field back to Jerusalem and then all the way out to Rome.

The whole time, Paul’s testimony of the resurrected Jesus has remained the same, and Paul’s opposition from Jewish leaders has only intensified. In our passage this morning, the cast of characters has changed a little, but the storyline basically stays the same from the chapters before.

I think there is a reason for the repetition, however, and so I am going to unapologetically highlight two recurring themes we’ve seen throughout the book of Acts – the sovereignty of Christ and the Christian calling to suffer for Christ’s name. While the characters and geography and politics may seem quite foreign to us today, I trust that these two themes will prove to be very relevant to us.

Human nature has not changed since the days of Roman officials and the invention of a courtroom, opposition to the gospel has not changed since Christ announced His universal authority over all heaven and earth, and the Christian calling to suffer injustice for the sake of Christ has not changed since the New Testament authors put ink to parchment.

May God help us to consider well the passage before us, and may God help us to believe and to live in light of what He has for us today.

Let’s stand, and I’ll read our main passage, Acts 25:1-22.

Scripture Reading

Acts 25:1–22 (ESV)

1 Now three days after Festus had arrived in the province, he went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea. 2 And the chief priests and the principal men of the Jews laid out their case against Paul, and they urged him, 3 asking as a favor against Paul that he summon him to Jerusalem—because they were planning an ambush to kill him on the way. 4 Festus replied that Paul was being kept at Caesarea and that he himself intended to go there shortly.

5 “So,” said he, “let the men of authority among you go down with me, and if there is anything wrong about the man, let them bring charges against him.”

6 After he stayed among them not more than eight or ten days, he went down to Caesarea. And the next day he took his seat on the tribunal and ordered Paul to be brought. 7 When he had arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing many and serious charges against him that they could not prove.

8 Paul argued in his defense, “Neither against the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I committed any offense.”

9 But Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, said to Paul, “Do you wish to go up to Jerusalem and there be tried on these charges before me?”

10 But Paul said, “I am standing before Caesar’s tribunal, where I ought to be tried. To the Jews I have done no wrong, as you yourself know very well. 11 If then I am a wrongdoer and have committed anything for which I deserve to die, I do not seek to escape death. But if there is nothing to their charges against me, no one can give me up to them. I appeal to Caesar.”

12 Then Festus, when he had conferred with his council, answered, “To Caesar you have appealed; to Caesar you shall go.”

13 Now when some days had passed, Agrippa the king and Bernice arrived at Caesarea and greeted Festus. 14 And as they stayed there many days, Festus laid Paul’s case before the king, saying,

“There is a man left prisoner by Felix, 15 and when I was at Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews laid out their case against him, asking for a sentence of condemnation against him.

16 I answered them that it was not the custom of the Romans to give up anyone before the accused met the accusers face to face and had opportunity to make his defense concerning the charge laid against him.

17 So when they came together here, I made no delay, but on the next day took my seat on the tribunal and ordered the man to be brought. 18 When the accusers stood up, they brought no charge in his case of such evils as I supposed. 19 Rather they had certain points of dispute with him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus, who was dead, but whom Paul asserted to be alive.

20 Being at a loss how to investigate these questions, I asked whether he wanted to go to Jerusalem and be tried there regarding them. 21 But when Paul had appealed to be kept in custody for the decision of the emperor, I ordered him to be held until I could send him to Caesar.”

22 Then Agrippa said to Festus, “I would like to hear the man myself.” “Tomorrow,” said he, “you will hear him.”

Main Idea:

Christ is the risen King of all creation, and He has called His people to suffer in this world as they bear witness of Him until they enter the world to come.

Sermon

1. The Characters

I count 6 significant characters in our passage this morning. Two are mentioned briefly, and these are wielding power and authority just under the surface – Caesar and Jesus. Caesar was the sovereign, the king, the ruler of the Roman empire. He was the highest court of earthly appeal, and the Apostle Paul did make an appeal for his case to be judged by Caesar, since the governor of Judea (Festus) seemed more interested in political favors than Roman justice.

Jesus was and is the true sovereign, the King of kings, the ruler of all creation. Jesus is the prophesied Messiah, who lived, who died, and who rose to life again. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead was yet again a central feature of Paul’s “case” (v19), though Festus seemed to completely sidestep the question of whether or not Paul’s claim – Jesus is “alive” – was actually true (v20).

As I’ve mentioned before in our study through Acts, Jesus is the constant main character of the whole book. The book is called the Acts of the Apostles, but a better title would be the Acts of Jesus by the power of His Spirit through His Apostles. Jesus commissioned His disciples to be His witnesses (Acts 1:8), and Jesus empowered them with His Spirit to carry out that mission (Acts 2:1-4).

Jesus, by the power of His Spirit and through the witness of His Apostles, converted sinners, established churches, and caused the gospel and the kingdom of Christ to spread across the known world.

In our passage this morning, Jesus was bringing the initial phase of His commission to a close. The Great Commission (of course) extends far beyond the Apostles; all Christians everywhere and for all time are commissioned as witnesses for Christ in the world. But the apostolic age was ending with Paul’s arrest and his travels from Jerusalem all the way to Rome. The gospel of Christ had gone out to Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria… and now it was going (through Paul) to the end of the earth… the capital city of the Roman empire… And Jesus – the resurrected Christ or Messiah, the Son of God and God the Son – was at work behind it all.

Friends, this sort of behind-the-scenes exercise of authority continues today. There are worldly authorities, which have a real power to exert over our lives. It’s not for nothing that we want honorable police officers, trustworthy judges, and responsible legislators. And when we don’t have them, we are right to feel a bit worried… these authorities bear real weight upon our lives.

But many of us are likely to forget that these worldly authorities and powerbrokers are all under the sovereign rule of Christ. Jesus is the King of kings and the Lord of lords; and these are not empty titles. Christ truly rules and reigns over all creation, and there is no power in this world that can act apart from His sovereignty over it. Whether we’re reading the book of Acts or the Longview News Journal, we must keep in mind that there is a sovereign God who rules over the affairs of men, and He never stops moving and arranging all things according to His good design and plans (Rom. 8:28).

The other four characters in our passage this morning are (I think) more obvious. There are the Jewish leaders, Festus (the governor of Judea), Herod Agrippa (the king of Judea), and (of course) the Apostle Paul. Luke does not name the Jewish leaders in our passage, nor does he detail their “case against Paul” (v2), as he had done in Acts 24. Luke simply refers to these leaders as “the chief priests” and “the principal men of the Jews” (v2).

These were “the men of authority” in Jerusalem (v5), and they seem to have officially embraced the strategy of the “more than forty” men who had conspired to ambush and murder Paul as soon as they could lure him out of the safety of a Roman prison (Acts 23:12-15). Luke says that the Jewish leaders themselves “were planning an ambush to kill [Paul] on the way” to Jerusalem (v3).

These men are presented in the worst possible light. They were willing and planning to commit murder (v3), they were pulling political strings in hopes of getting a political “favor” (v3), and they were leveling “many and serious charges” against Paul which “they could not prove” (v7). There is nothing noble or honorable about these guys at all, and these Jewish leaders are set like granite against Paul and against Paul’s message about Jesus Christ.

Porcius Festus is another character here, and he was the governor of Judea from about AD 56-62. He came after Felix, who was the last governor we read about at the end of Acts 24. Felix was the one who seemed to delay and delay until 2 whole years had passed with Paul in prison at Caesarea (a major port-city of Judea). Then Felix was out, and Festus was in (Acts 24:27).

Festus began his governorship of Judea with an eager and seemingly noble start. After only “three days” in the “province” of Judea, Luke says that Festus “went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea” (v1). The first five verses of our passage read like Festus was trying to get the lay of his political land, and (at least at first) Festus completely rejected the Jewish leaders’ attempt to pull a political favor.

When they asked him for it, Festus simply invited them to come along with him to Caesarea and “bring charges against [Paul]” there (v5). It wasn’t long, however, until Festus apparently learned where his bread was buttered. About two weeks into his governorship, he was sitting “on the tribunal,” and (after hearing the empty case against Paul) Festus was ready to “do the Jews a favor” (v9).

Roman leadership in Judea in the first century was an awkward dance between a dominant military power and a very influential religious minority. Rome was not interested in the theological fine points of Jewish religion, but Rome also wanted submissive and tax-paying citizens in Judea. The best governors or procurators or prefects in Judea were those that could flex Roman muscle while at the same time granting various favors and freedoms to the Jewish leaders. Pontius Pilate had exemplified this tactic in the mid-30s AD, Felix had done it about 20 years later, and now Festus was trying to figure out how to do it in his day.

The next character is one we will get to know more about next Sunday, so I won’t say much about him here. King Agrippa was the king of Judea who came to “greet” or “salute” (KJV) or “pay [his] respects” (NIV) to Festus when he became governor (v13). This King Agrippa was the last of the Herodian kings in Judea, and he was actually Agrippa II, the son of Herod Agrippa I who persecuted the church in Jerusalem and died under God’s miraculous judgment (in Acts 12).

And Herod the Great was our King Agrippa’s great-granddad. You might remember that Herod the Great was the one who tried to kill the newborn Jesus by murdering all the baby boys around Bethlehem when he heard about one who was born “king of the Jews” (Matt. 2:1-4, 16). But even this was according to an Old Testament prophecy, and Jesus survived the murderous attempt (Matt. 2:17-18).

Thus, we can see a long-lasting contrast between earthly kings who seem to rule so powerfully in the day-to-day affairs of the world until God decides to show everyone that He is the one with true power and authority. From Herod the Great to Agrippa II, these kings of Judea represent a span of about 70 years where the highest earthly power with close contact to Christ and His people was hostile to Christianity and the gospel. And yet, even these pagan and hostile kings fulfilled God’s promises, worked according to God’s plans, and died under God’s judgment when God was good and ready to deliver it.

And, friends, I think this is a major theme of the book of Acts. It bears repeating because it reverberates throughout the whole book, and it’s also good to be reminded because it’s a theme and a reality we are likely to forget.

Brothers and sisters, we see the effects of sin all around us; we live in a world that is still groaning under the curse of sin, and we ourselves (even on our best days) are still sinners in need of grace.

But Christ has entered into real human history, and He Himself has conquered death and sin… and He has risen from the dead as the glorious King who has all authority in heaven and on earth. And however bleak the circumstances may appear, however much pain and grief and real affliction we must endure, Christ is the sovereign over it all… and He is working in all things for His own glory and for the ultimate joy and victory of His people.

As the old song goes, “Rejoice, the Lord is King! Your Lord and King adore… Rejoice, give thanks, and sing, And triumph evermore… His kingdom cannot fail, He rules o’er earth and Heav’n… The keys of death and hell Are to our Jesus giv’n… Lift up your heart, lift up your voice; Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!”

2. The Case

Our passage this morning does not detail the “case” against Paul (v14-15), but the Jewish leaders’ “charges” (v7) and Paul’s “defense” (v8) are certainly the focus here. In v14-21, Festus summarized Paul’s “case” as he perceived it, coloring a few things to give himself positive shade, of course. And, in v7, Luke briefly described the sort of “charges” that were brought against Paul. Let’s look at the summary together, and we will make a few references to Luke’s description too.

I don’t know how Luke got hold of the information, but Luke tells us what Festus said to King Agrippa in the first person. Festus informed the king that Paul was “a man left prisoner by Felix” (v14). This was a case that was more than 2 years old at this point. Festus says that he went to Jerusalem to hear “the chief priests and elders of the Jews [lay] out their case against” Paul, and he is clear that they were “asking for a sentence of condemnation” or death (v15).

In v16, Festus described his commitment to Roman law and his demand that the Jewish leaders come to Caesarea so that they could “accuse” Paul “face to face” (v16). Festus also made it known that he intended to let Paul “make his defense concerning the charge laid against him” (v16).

The “charge,” as Festus saw it, was of “no… such evils” as he “supposed” (v18). Instead, he said, “they had certain points of dispute” about “their own religion” and about “a certain Jesus” (v19). Everyone agreed that Jesus had been “dead,” but Paul was saying that Jesus was now “alive” (v19).

This, it seems to me, is the million-dollar question! Is Jesus alive, or isn’t He? If He is dead, then Paul is a Jewish heretic, and the Roman legal interest disappears. The Roman government doesn’t seem to care that much if the Jews kill one of their own based on trumped up charges of blasphemy. But, if Jesus is alive, after having been clearly and publicly executed (by no less than the Roman military), then both the Jews and the Romans have a more serious situation on their hands. Both the Jews and the Romans were aiming to build earthly kingdoms, but if Jesus is the risen King of all creation, then that changes everything.

Friends, this is true in our day as well. Whatever else you’ve been told about Christianity or the gospel… the question really does come down to this: Is Jesus of Nazareth alive today, or is He dead? If He’s dead, then all the sentiment and ritual and personal improvement in the world can make no difference for you.

Your family troubles, your political fears, your financial ambitions, and your nagging sense of guilt are all your own. There is nothing and no one to depend on in this world but yourself. You should make the best of whatever situation you’re in, you should try to squeeze whatever happiness you can out of the worldly pleasures you can access, and you should definitely avoid death as long as possible… because all we’ve got is what we can drain from the shallow, thin, and often bitter cup of life.

But, if Jesus is alive!… Well, then that changes everything! If Jesus is alive, then God has indeed provided a Savior for guilty sinners! If Jesus is alive, then all the promises God has made from the beginning of time are trustworthy and true! If Jesus is alive, then sinners like us can be forgiven, we can be renewed, and we can have hope through the midst of the worst life-circumstances.

Furthermore, if Jesus is alive, then He is the one with all authority in heaven and on earth! If Jesus is alive, then He is working all things according to His good plans! If Jesus is alive, then He will one day judge all things and all people according to His own rules of justice and morality!

From religious leaders to Roman officials, from East Texas yokels to scheming Capitol Hill politicians, and everyone in between… if Jesus is alive, then we must all either bow the knee to the resurrected Lord of lords or brace ourselves to bear His righteous judgment against our rebellion.

Psalm 2 says, “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? 2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed [or “his Messiah” or “his Christ”], saying, 3 ‘Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us’” (v1-3). But “4 He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision… 10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. 11 Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. 12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. [But] Blessed are all who take refuge in him” (v4, 10-12).

But the Jewish leaders and the Roman officials were not interested in taking refuge in the resurrected Jesus. The Jewish leaders rejected Jesus as their Messiah, and they wanted to stop Paul from preaching. Festus, the Roman governor, completely ignored Paul’s claim, saying that he was “at a loss how to investigate” the “questions” about Paul (v20). Festus saw this whole thing as a “dispute” about “certain points” of Jewish “religion” (v19).

But Paul was very interested in taking refuge in the resurrected Jesus. In fact, Paul was banking everything on the fact that Jesus was alive and well, and that Jesus would ultimately vindicate Paul on the last day (whatever the Jewish leaders or Roman officials thought of Paul). Paul was not fighting for his life, he was not trying to manipulate anything or anyone, and he was not losing sight of what was most important even though his situation was dire.

Paul was even able to say, in v11, “If then I am a wrongdoer and have committed anything for which I deserve to die, I do not seek to escape death.” He knew that suffering (and probably dying) for the name of Christ was the very service or ministry to which he had been called and appointed (Acts 21:10-13).

3. The Call to Suffer

Reading about Paul’s situation and seeing his powerful example of suffering well as a faithful witness for Christ should probably provoke us all to ask at least a couple of questions. First, are all Christians supposed to be willing to suffer like this, or is Paul a unique sufferer? And second, how in the world can any Christian prepare to endure such unjust suffering? Let me offer you three answers to these two questions in my last point this morning.

First, Paul was indeed a unique witness and sufferer for Christ. The resurrected Jesus personally confronted Paul when he was still a rebellious sinner, persecuting Christ and His people (Acts 9:1-9). And when Jesus called Paul from death to life, from darkness to light, from sin to glory, Jesus also called Paul to a ministry of suffering. Jesus said that Paul was His “chosen instrument” who would “carry” the “name” of Christ “before Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel,” and in so doing, he would “suffer for the sake of [Christ’s] name” (Acts 9:15-16).

Paul was unique. We are not Apostles, and we should not try to imitate all that Paul did or said in our own lives.

Second, the Bible does teach us that all Christians are called by God to suffer injustice and affliction as part of what it means to follow Jesus. Sometimes Christians think they are being persecuted when really, they are just reaping the consequences of their own bad decisions. But that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about real injustice, and Paul offers us a great example here of a life well-lived and a faithful Christian sufferer. Paul was accused of all sorts of things, but he was able to say, “Neither against the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I committed any offense” (v8). Paul’s life was virtuous, and, therefore, his suffering was completely unjust.

And the Scripture says that all Christians should expect this kind of unjust suffering. 1 Peter 2 says, “For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called…” (1 Pet. 2:19-21). Paul himself had taught the churches of Lystra and Iconium and Antioch, “through many tribulations [or “afflictions”] we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). And Paul was merely echoing Jesus’s teaching before him. Jesus said, “In the world you will have tribulation” or “distress” (Jn. 16:33).

Brothers and sisters, unjust suffering, tribulation, affliction, and distress are part of the Christian life. The question is not, “Will you suffer for Christ’s name?”. The only question is, “What will your suffering for Christ’s name look like?”. The sooner and more certainly we come to grips with this fact, the better prepared we will be to face it when it comes… and this leads me to the third and final answer.

Third, Christians can prepare themselves to suffer well (A) by looking to Christ’s example, (B) by looking to other Christian examples, and (C) by looking to the life to come.

We should look to Christ’s example, and that’s exactly what the Bible teaches us to do. The Scripture says that it “is a gracious thing in the sight of God” if you “suffer” for doing “good” (1 Pet. 2:20). Indeed, as I quoted before, “to this you have been called” (1 Pet. 2:21), and now listen to the rest… “because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly” (1 Pet. 2:21-23).

May God help us to remember that our Lord and Master came the first time not to be served but to serve, not to avoid suffering but to suffer, not to conquer by force but to endure affliction and humility. May God help us to look to Christ as our example, and may God help us to suffer well… even suffer injustice and false accusation… that we may follow in the steps of our Savior.

Next, we (in the twenty-first century) also have the privilege of looking to other Christians who have suffered well before us. The author of Hebrews teaches us to do this very thing! That’s what the so-called “hall of faith” in Hebrews 11 is all about. We can read there about the faith of Abel and Enoch, of Abraham and Sarah, of Isaac and Joseph and Moses… and many others.

And how is it that we observe their faith?! The Scripture says, “Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated – of whom the world was not worthy…” (Heb. 11:35-38).

“Therefore,” the author of Hebrews says, “since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:1-2).

Friends, we can prepare ourselves to endure unjust suffering by looking to the lives and examples of other Christians who have suffered well before us. To read Church history is to read about those Christians who have suffered all manner of injustice even as they humbly and boldly held tightly to the promises of the gospel. May God help us to hang on, to persevere… as those before us have done… for just a bit longer.

Finally, we can prepare to suffer well by looking to the life to come. This is the constant and enduring Christian hope. When Christians keep at least one eye on the eternal and glorious life to come, they are not so easily discouraged or distracted by the circumstances of this life.

How was Paul able to bear witness to the gospel of Christ before hostile crowds and pagan kings? It was because he knew that this life is not his last. How was Paul able to run toward suffering for the sake of Christ? It was because he knew that the risen Jesus would soon raise him to eternal life.

How can you and I endure the trials, the temptations, and even the unjust suffering of this world? We can do it by remembering that our labor is not in vain (1 Cor. 15:58), and that our Master and Savior will soon bring heaven to earth, and we shall enter the everlasting city where there shall never be dark or sin or sorrow again (Rev. 21-22).

As one of my favorite new hymns says, “Don’t drop a single anchor, we’re almost home… Through every toil and danger, we’re almost home… How many pilgrim saints have before us gone?... No stopping now, we’re almost home!”

Brothers and sisters, we’re almost home! Let’s look to Christ, let’s look to faithful Christians before and beside us, and let’s look to the life that is to come… and may God help us to live every day as Christ’s faithful witnesses… even through the midst of suffering… until He comes.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Aland, Kurt, Barbara Aland, Johannes Karavidopoulos, Carlo M. Martini, and Bruce M. Metzger. Novum Testamentum Graece. 28th Edition. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2012.

Biblical Studies Press. The NET Bible First Edition; Bible. English. NET Bible.; The NET Bible. Biblical Studies Press, 2005.

Calvin, John. Commentary upon the Acts of the Apostles. Edited by Henry Beveridge. Translated by Christopher Fetherstone. Vol. 2. 2 vols. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010.

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.

Peterson, David. The Acts of the Apostles. The Pillar New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI; Nottingham, England: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Apollos, 2009.

Polhill, John B. Acts. Vol. 26. The New American Commentary. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992.

Sproul, R. C., ed. The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version. 2015 Edition. Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust, 2015.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016.

The Holy Bible: King James Version. Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009.

The Holy Bible: New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1984.