"Using the System to the Glory of God" Sermon: Acts 25:1-12

“Using the System to the Glory of God”
[Acts 25:1-12]
May 15, 2011 Second Reformed Church

From before the creation of everything that is, God had a Plan, and that Plan is being accomplished on earth today. Sometimes God uses miraculous means to accomplish His Plan – like the Birth of Jesus the Savior through a virgin; God doesn’t need humans or even what we consider “the normal course of events” to accomplish His Plan. However, God usually uses humans and “the normal way things work” to accomplish His Plan.

What we see in this morning’s Scripture is Paul using the system of Roman government and law to accomplish God’s Promise to him that he would preach the Gospel in Rome to Caesar. Could God have accomplished this without Paul being wise enough to use the system that Rome had in place? Of course. But, as we just said, God usually chooses to work through humans that “the normal way things work” to accomplish His Plan.

Do you find that amazing? It really is – that God would choose to enter into human history and work through our governments and societies and languages to accomplish His Purpose. God can be nothing less than Absolutely Sovereign to accomplish such a feat – who else could align all of human history to accomplish his will?

Just consider that God has chosen to use Christians, who, on our best days – we must admit – sin against God and continue to rebel, to be the ones to carry the Gospel Message of Salvation in Jesus Alone to the world. For God’s Own Reasons, He has seen fit to use what to anyone but God would be a pretty iffy plan – to use human beings to get His Message of Salvation to the world. That’s pretty amazing.

And so, as we consider history, we have to do a balancing act: first, we need to understand that God is Sovereign and does not need us to accomplish His Will and His Plan. Yet, second, God has chosen to use us to accomplish His Will and His Plan. Who can explain these things?

As we turn back to our text and see how Paul uses the system to the Glory of God, let us remember that Governor Felix was recalled by Emperor Nero to Rome to answer changes of cruelty against the Jewish people. In the hopes that the Jews would speak kindly about him, he left Paul in prison.

Nero appointed Porcius Festus as the new governor. Festus was a better man than Felix. Festus had been raised in a noble family and appreciated the rule of law. When he was appointed in 60 A.D. as governor, he began his rule by wiping out the “daggermen” – a group of assassins which had flourished under Felix, who would enter celebrations and funerals, get people aside, stab them, and steal their goods. This terrorist group was stopped by Festus.

Unlike Felix, Festus didn’t know much about the Jewish religion or the group called “the Way” – which is what Christians were originally called. So, upon being appointed to the position of governor, Festus traveled first to Jerusalem to meet with the Sanhedrin, the ruling Jewish council, to learn about them and their ways.

Upon his arrival in Jerusalem, he met with the Sanhedrin and the new high priest, Ishmael ben Phabi, and they immediately laid out their case against Paul and asked that Festus do something about him. They asked that Festus summon Paul back to Jerusalem that he might be tried in their courts and have sentence issued by them. And Luke tells us that they, once again, had planned to ambush and kill Paul on his way back to Jerusalem. And once again, we see that this secret was not well kept – as Luke knew about it and would have told Paul, and it was likely that Festus also had heard of the plot.

Although Festus didn’t want to get on the wrong side of the Jews as soon as he arrived, he also didn’t want to become their puppet, so he told them since Paul was already in prison in Caesarea, and Festus was headed back to his palace in Caesarea, they could send anyone they wanted to Caesarea, and Festus would sit in judgment of the case there, where his seat of authority was.

About a week and a half later, Festus, and some from the Sanhedrin, arrived in Caesarea, and Festus took his seat as tribunal. We may remember, Felix never took the seat as tribunal with Paul, he just let the Jews argue with Paul. This is the first time that Paul was sitting before a Roman court for a Roman ruling on his case.

And notice: Festus kept his word. He tried Paul’s case as soon as he got back. He didn’t try any tricks or stalling. He immediately called court to order.

And Luke tells us that the Jews put the same case against Paul that was made two years previously – Paul violated the law of the Jews and attempted to profane the Temple. Only this time, two years had passed, so there were even fewer people who could attest to Paul doing anything – he had been under Roman guard for the past two years – who remembered with any certainty what he really did two years before? They hadn’t been able to produce witnesses at the time, so it was hopeless now. And Paul responded with even more force to his innocence that he “neither against the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I committed any offense.”

Festus understood – this was some Jewish religious squabble. It had nothing to do with Roman Law or keeping the peace. And Festus didn’t care about the Jewish religion and he certainly didn’t want to start settling religious squabbles. So to get the Jews off his back and Paul out of the Roman system, Festus asked Paul if he would like to return to Jerusalem and be tried by the Sanhedrin – “after all, they know your religion better than I do, and this isn’t really a Roman issue. Don’t you think you would like to leave and go home and work it out there?”

Even if we assume for the moment that Festus didn’t know about the plot to murder Paul, Paul knew that there was a plot to murder him, and Jesus had told Paul to leave Jerusalem, and that Jesus would protect him and bring him to Rome where he would preach the Gospel to Caesar and his household., so Paul gave the only answer he could, in trust and faithfulness to Jesus, his God and Savior:

“I am standing before Caesar’s tribunal, where I ought to be tried.”

“I am a Roman. I have asked for a Roman trial, which is my right, and I will have a Roman trial in accordance with the law of Rome.”

“To the Jews I have done nothing wrong, as you yourselves know very well.”

“You have heard the evidence against me. No one has been able to show I have committed any crime whatsoever. There is no evidence, and here I am two years later, still in prison. What does Roman law say you ought to do?”

“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.”

“Festus, if you can show me to have committed any crime – even a crime worthy of death – I am here ready to take my punishment. But if you believe that there is nothing in their accusations against me – and you obviously do – then you cannot hand me over to them for trial – that would be unjust and against Roman law.”

“I appeal to Caesar ”

We will remember back in chapter twenty-two when Paul first met Claudius Lysias, and Lysias was going to flog him for the sake of the crowd, Paul cried out, “I am a Roman citizen ” That cry activate the Roman law for him so he would not be flogged, because it was against Roman law to flog a Roman citizen.

Similarly, Roman citizens were given the opportunity to have their case tried by the Emperor, himself, if the case was serious enough. Paul appealed to his right to have his case judged by the Emperor, Nero, himself. And Festus turned to the council – not the Sanhedrin – but his gubernatorial council and asked them if his claim of this right had merit.

They agreed, and Festus announced, “To Caesar you have appealed; to Caesar you shall go.” Paul was on his way to preach the Gospel of Salvation in Jesus Alone to Nero – the ruler of “the civilized world” – just as Jesus had promised.

We should find comfort in knowing that God will always accomplish His Will; there is no person or power that can thwart His Will for us and all of Creation. As King Nebuchandnezzar confessed, “[God’s] dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and no one can stay his hand or say to him, ‘What have you done?’” (Daniel 4:34b-35, ESV).

We don’t have to worry that God might fail if we don’t accomplish what seems to be set before us. God put His Plan in order before the Creation existed, so God accounted for every act of obedience and every act of rebellion so everything is working together to the Glory of God – and for the joy of those who love Him.

Paul writes, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died – more than that, who was raised – who is at the right hand of God, who is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake, we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:31-38, ESV).

Everything that occurs and does not occur is part of the Plan that God planned from the beginning, and all of it is being worked to His Glory and the joy of we who love Him. And even though we will suffer and even die for Christ, we shall not be separated from Him and His Love and His Salvation.

We ought to be humbled to know that God is working in us and through us to accomplish His Will, as Paul writes, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12-13, ESV).

And we ought to work hard to use every means in the systems in this world to see that the Gospel of Salvation in Jesus Alone is proclaimed to the whole Creation. The fact that God is Sovereign and works everything according to His Will, even through using us and all of Creation to His Glory, is no excuse to not work hard – it is an incentive to work hard for Christ, because we cannot ultimately fail, because we are victorious in Christ.

So, Paul writes, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified” (I Corinthians 9:24-27, ESV).

Let us keep our eyes on the Prize of Jesus Christ. Let us look to Him, glorifying Him and knowing Him and proclaiming Him as the Goal of all of our lives – and everything else we need will be given to us.

Let us use the systems that we are involved in – in family and work and government – let us seek to do everything legally and morally right that the world might know that Jesus Christ is Lord to the Glory of the Father.

Let us pray:
Almighty God, we thank You that You have chosen us to proclaim Your Word and Your Gospel to the world. Help us to be involved in the world and to use the systems around us to Your Glory and our joy. For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.