Waiting Game
Notes
Transcript
Review
Review
Turn to Acts 25.
Last week, Paul stood on trial before Felix and was accused of being an insurrectionist against the Roman order. With grace and wisdom, Paul calmly gave his defense. Felix knew that Paul had not broken any Roman laws, but he deferred his judgment in the case because he wanted to please the Jews. For the next two years, Felix listened time after time as Paul reasoned with him of Jesus Christ. We saw that it is one thing to stand on trial before man; it’s quite another to stand on trial before a holy God.
Message
Message
Read Acts 25:1-12.
Waiting is a highly effective strategy in the world of sports.
You see it in basketball when a point guard will try to run down the shot clock before executing an explosive play.
You see it in soccer when a team that is in the lead will gain control of the ball and keep it on their side of the field, forcing the other team to go full court press and try to steal the ball.
You see it in American football when a team on offense will direct its players to run the ball out of bounds in an attempt to save time on the clock so they can have a chance at a touchdown or field goal attempt.
This is sometimes called “working the clock” or “playing a waiting game.”
A waiting game is when one side chooses to delay action in hopes of having a more favorable opportunity later on.
I think that might describe what Paul was having to do in Acts 25 because this chapter is all about waiting. We see this particularly in the first twelve verses where we see Paul make…
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An appeal to Caesar - Acts 25:1-12.
Two years had passed since Paul had been tried by Felix.
Two years had passed since Paul had the freedom to travel beyond the city of Caesarea.
More than two years had passed since Paul had first expressed a desire to go to Rome.
But in those two years, Paul was learning afresh the lesson of waiting on God.
Think about this: Paul had spent roughly the last ten years travelling all across the eastern side of the Roman Empire. He had visited dozens of cities. He had suffered many things. He had countless stories that he could share. Now it was God’s plan for him to be still. That was probably difficult to do after having been on the road so much for the last decade, but Paul embraced God’s plan to wait.
In the verses we just read, we find several circumstances repeat themselves. Festus, the new governor, arrived in the region and soon met with the high ranking Jewish leaders. The Jews accused Paul and then tried to assassinate him again in the same way they had tried back in Jerusalem. But God thwarted their efforts and soon Paul is tried again in Caesarea. There at the trial another pattern emerges. Festus becomes guilty of the same motivation that Felix had.
Read Acts 25:9 and compare versus Acts 24:27.
It seems as though no matter who would try Paul’s case, they were biased against him. As long as Paul’s case stayed in the jurisdiction around Jerusalem, the judge would be biased against him because the judge wanted to placate the Jews.
It’s just like in our day, political lawyers are famous for shopping around and finding judges that will rule in favor of their party.
That was the problem Paul had here. The Jews had a home-court advantage. Paul needed to get his case tried in a different jurisdiction, so that’s exactly what he does in verses 9-10.
Read Acts 25:9-10.
In these verses, Paul plays the waiting game. Rather than getting impatient with the process, rather than quitting on God’s plan and getting the case done and over in Jerusalem, he plays the waiting game. He chose to delay action in hopes of having a more favorable opportunity at Caesar’s court.
Application: Paul had learned to accept the seasons of waiting and it showed because he didn’t try to take the shortcut to end his case. He didn’t throw in the towel. He submitted his timeline to God’s and chose to keep on waiting rather than finding the quick way out of his incarceration.
Read slowly:
Christian, embrace the reality that waiting is part of God’s plan for your life!
Notice what I just said: you must learn to embrace it!
There’s a difference between tolerating something and embracing it.
When the American colonies were being founded, several of them practiced what we would call religious toleration. Very few of them practiced religious liberty where you could worship God as guided by your conscience. The difference was significant.
Religious toleration meant that the government might tolerate you being a Baptist, but you were a second class citizen and you would often pay additional taxes. The state church might tolerate you worshipping in your own church, but you might suffer ridicule, stolen property, and worse.
As I said, It’s one thing to tolerate waiting; it’s quite another thing to embrace it.
Christian, learn to embrace God’s plan of waiting.
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A question concerning the charges - Acts 25:13-22.
Read Acts 25:13-22.
Paul is on trial but there’s a problem: no one knows exactly what the charges are. It put Festus in an uncomfortable position as a politician. On one side, he was trying to keep the volatile Jewish leaders from getting upset. On the other, he knew deep down that this was a sham trial and that the Jews were using lawfare to punish Paul. Somehow, Festus needed to write up the charges and explain the case in a letter to Caesar.
Festus enlisted King Agrippa II to help. Agrippa II ruled what is now known as Lebanon - just to the north of Israel. He was the last king of the Herodian dynasty. Rome often allowed regional kings and tribal leaders to continue their reign so long as they bowed the knee to Rome and maintained law and order.
Bernice was the wife and sister of Agrippa II. Obviously, they were not people of high moral character. One writer said of them,
“It would be difficult to find a more corrupt pair.” - Witness to Christ: A Commentary on Acts, Ac 25:13, p 355
That didn’t matter to Festus. What did matter was the fact that Agrippa was an expert in the Jewish law and that’s the help that Festus needed in this case.
And so the stage was set for another needless trial. In essence, it was a trial to figure out why there needed to be a trial in the first place. Romans prided themselves on their system of justice (Festus hints at this in verse 16) but the Roman ideal of justice was being perverted very much.
Read Acts 25:16.
Despite what Festus said, he was allowing justice to be perverted and this improper case to drag on rather than putting it to a stop and sending the Jewish leaders straight back to Jerusalem.
Application: Church family, sometimes God allows trials in our lives to drag on with no apparent end in sight.
Paul’s friends hoped his trial would end and he would be released.
Paul’s enemies hoped his trial would end and he would be executed.
Neither got their way. Instead, the legal process would drag on.
Sometimes we endure the same in our own lives and our only course of action is to continue patiently waiting upon the Lord.
Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: For thou art the God of my salvation; On thee do I wait all the day.
I had fainted, unless I had believed To see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord: Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: Wait, I say, on the Lord.
I waited patiently for the Lord; And he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
The Jewish psalmists talk often about waiting on the Lord one day at a time. That’s how you do it, Christian. Just one day at a time - not with gritted teeth, but with open hands.
As Paul plays this Waiting Game, we’ve seen an appeal to Caesar, we’ve seen a question concerning the charges, now thirdly…
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An occasion of pomp and circumstance - Acts 25:23-27.
Read Acts 25:23-27.
In 1901, Sir Edward William Elgar composed the first of five marches for orchestra. Each march was written and dedicated to his friends who were accomplished musicians and composers themselves. You may not have heard of Sir Edward Elgar, but you likely have heard a portion of his first march because today it is used at nearly every high school and college graduation in the United States. It is commonly known as “Pomp and Circumstance.”
When King Agrippa II and Bernice entered the judgment hall, they may not have played Sir Elgar’s song, but they certainly played the part.
The Greek word that is translated “pomp” in verse 23 is used only this one time in the New Testament.
Pomp: a show, a showy appearance, a grand display
That is how they entered the hall for Paul’s trial. Alongside were the leading men of Caesarea as well as the chief captains, which were Roman tribunes. Jewish historian, Josephus, indicates that there were five cohorts - in other words, five thousand soldiers - stationed at Caesarea. It’s likely that there were five tribunes that attended this trial also.
It was a big deal.
Had there been national television, it would have been live-streamed.
Obviously, it was an occasion of pomp and circumstance.
Perhaps Paul would have felt a little overwhelmed at the whole thing, but this was an occasion for which God had been preparing Paul.
All the way back when Paul became a follower of Jesus Christ, God sent a man named Ananias to go see Paul and to tell him what the Lord wanted him to do next. Here’s what the Lord said to Ananias about Paul:
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But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:
You see, this trial was not happening by accident! God had Paul exactly where He wanted Paul to be! God had Paul here on purpose. It was time for Paul to stand before kings and to tell them about the King of Heaven who had come to this earth to save them from their sins! It was time for Paul to be a missionary, not to the poor, broken people of Corinth, Ephesus, and so many other cities, but to this rich, powerful, and hopelessly lost King Agrippa. The Lord Jesus was using Paul to do exactly what he wanted Paul to do.
Application: Christian, on God’s calendar, waiting time is never wasted time.
When God looks at your calendar and He picks up His pen and writes,
“a few hours of waiting here…”
“a day of waiting right here…”
“a couple months of waiting over here…”
“Five years of waiting here…”
“a lifetime of waiting here…”
You can rest assured, Christian, that time is not wasted time. It’s not wasted time so long as you are 100% surrendered to God’s plan.
It’s likely that today you are waiting for something. Most people are.
Waiting for a problem to be resolved.
Waiting for a particular answer to prayer.
Waiting for a spouse.
Waiting to take the next step in life like a career change.
Whatever it is you are waiting for, be 100% surrendered to God’s plan as you wait and embrace that season of waiting because on God’s calendar, it’s not wasted time. You can trust that He has a purpose in it - even if you never know what it is.
Conclusion
Conclusion
That’s what Acts 25 is all about. That was the season of life that Paul was in. For more than two years, he was in a Waiting Game, and he embraced it. Christian, let’s do likewise, and be surrendered to God’s plan.
Invitation
Invitation