Political Theater

Acts 25:13-27 “Now when some days had passed, Agrippa the king and Bernice arrived at Caesarea and greeted Festus. And as they stayed there many days, Festus laid Paul’s case before the king, saying, “There is a man left prisoner by Felix, 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. 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. 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. When the accusers stood up, they brought no charge in his case of such evils as I supposed. 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. Being at a loss how to investigate…”

Investigative

King Agrippa come to pay respects to the newly established Governer Festus.

King Agrippa was the last in a long and storied line of Herodians

He was an expert in Jewish affairs and therefore was sought in helping Festus determine what the issue was

Festus had a problem, chiefly that Paul had appealed to Caesar but Festus had nothing to write him about.

If he were to send Paul to Casear without a reason he’d be seen as incompetent and inadequate to handle the affairs of his jurisdiction.

Festus also, distorted the facts in his presentation to Agrippa, stating that Paul had requested to be kept in custody when in fact he desired to be freed and a fair trial.

So now King Agrippa enters the trial arena with much fanfare.

Ironically this is the same place in Acts 12:20-23 that Agrippa’s father was struck down for exalting himself and yet it seems his son didn’t learn the lesson either.

In addition, Agrippa is with Bernice who is his sister, but it was well known they were having a scandalously incestuous relationship.

Funny how people devoted to immorality feel entitled to weigh in on moral issues.

This event is attended by the who’s who of Caesarea along with the other political figures of importance.

Festus declares that the Jews had a desire to kill Paul but that he was not deserving of such matters. Instead he brought him before everyone to figure out what to do with him.

In order to execute someone they had to be guilty of something pretty serious....treason, murder, etc. but instead these were purely religious problems.

There’s something to be said that ALL of this, this show this spectacle, was created because people would run from their guilty & conviction about what this man was saying.

This melodrama of an event started because the Jewish leadership didn’t like what Paul was saying. Because they feared his message and what impact it’d have not on the people they shepherded but on their position of power.

And then there’s Festus, If there ever was a case of someone attempting to cover their cowardice with misdirection it is Festus at this point.

So here you have all of the granduer, charade, and galantry of Festus and yet here stands a humble Paul, small in stature, in chains.

This is pure political theater.

Festus with all of the pomp, all in an attempt to display himself as grand and to cover his own cowardice in his injustice.

TR: I’ll pause there and ask us to take a moment to reflect on what I’ve said and the truths of this passage, in a few moments I’d like for you all to verbally respond in a Q&A time to two questions. 1) Where is this passage challenging or presenting some conflict with you? 2) Where is this passage bringing some clarity to you or confirming something for you?

Expressive

As we move into a time of response and explore what God is doing among us, I’d like to outline some ground rules.

Please don’t share more than a minute so other people can have a time to respond, you can also text in a question or statement in the GroupMe.

Please remember we are different humans with different opinions and it’s okay to hear something you don’t agree with.

This is a time to be nourished by listening to what the Spirit of God is doing amongst each other.

Kid’s Section

Share story of sneaking some food in my room.

I got so tired that I couldn’t finish it all but I didn’t want to get caught so I had to hide it...

Well I forgot about it for 2 months…what do you think happened to it?

I didn’t know it was the food that was stinking but I tried to pretend it wasn’t there.

TR: SIT DOWN ON A STOOL

Collective

TR: STAND UP

I’d like to take a minute to collect our clarities and our conflicts

What are some themes you see on the board?

What are our feelings? What is intriguing?

What might God’s Spirit be saying?

Declarative

The World will hide sin through affiliation

Festus, knowing he was wrong attempted to hide his sin through his affiliation with the politically connected Agrippa.

There are many things that we do that we know are wrong but because we are connected with the right things we give ourselves a pass or at least don’t look as bad.

The famous pastor that cheats, the gracious woman that loves gossip, the consistent church goer who harbors racism, whatever it is since they’re affiliated with something of power, nobility, or truth then they believe it’ll rub off on them.

A perfect illustration is the live of Ravi Zacharias. Publicly one of the greatest apologists of our time. Affiliated with tremendous works that the Lord used. Yet secretly he was lustful, prideful, and corrupt.

Be careful not to take on the ways of the world. Confess hidden sin. Don’t have secret parts to your life or heart.

Know that just as you can hide sin through affiliation you can be cleansed of sin through affiliation. While Festus was cozying up to Agrippa for political success he could’ve drawn near to Jesus for salvation.

The World will hide sin through demonstration

The World will attempt to cause such a spectacle that you forget what the real problem is.

It will politicize, mystify, and propagandize it’s way to being absolved of any sin.

Essentially if I can make a big enough show of it I can make people forget what the real issue is.

An example of this is in the LGBTQ community. To be clear not everyone who identifies as lesbian, gay, etc. practice that lifestyle and there are some who feel that attraction yet in honor to Jesus are celibate. I’m honored to be a brother to those people. However, there are many who celebrate the lifestyle, create commercials about it, movies, books, festivals, districts of cities, parades, etc....all to normalize through demonstration something really simple…sexual immorality. Yet through demonstration we forget that it’s sexual immorality. A sin that we all have wrestled with at some point in varying manifestations but the same issue.

There will come a day when the Lord pulls back all of the regalia of this world and unmasks all of our false motives and says you reall did that for you.

That war you started wasn’t for their salvation, it was for their exploitation. That assistance you gave was more about you loving to feel like a savior than it was for alleviation of their suffering.

Hidden behind grand demonstrations are some devious sins.

Let’s be careful not to adopt the worlds ways and hide behind our demonstrations!

The World will hide sin through preoccupation

Everyone was there and told they were there to help Festus judge what he should write Caesar about Paul

So everyone was there for the show…what manner of entertainment will this be they wondered.

They were all preoccupied with the grandoisity of the even that they forgot that Paul was INNOCENT!!

This world will attempt to preoccupy your mind so you forget your purpose!!!

I looked back in the news and each summer we had a different national news event that demanded our attention! School shootings in 2019, riots in 2020, vaccinations in 2021…it’s always something!!!

What attempts to preoccupy you? Why are you drawn to it and what is it leading you to cover up?!

Because the main theme of this passage is this: Hidden sins become hideous spectacles