Acts 25 - Battles all around

We see right away in chapter 25 these Jews cuddling right up to the new leader in town and trying to persuade Festus to give in to their demands. Festus appears to be onto them though, and wants to at least hear from Paul first. His words at the end of verse 5 have some real meaning to them and are a lesson for me: “if there is any wrong in this man.” Festus didn’t immediately believe that Paul was guilty, he wanted to hear from Paul and look into the case; he didn’t just take the Jews’ words for it. That’s not very easy to do, especially with a scandal or a problem. For whatever reason most of us are really quick to believe someone when they are talking about things that others have done wrong, in fact we are quicker to believe that than if someone were talking about a person who did some wonderful thing and had great intentions and purpose around it. I know I’m that way sometimes; I’ll meet words of praise about certain people with skepticism and words of condemnation with an assumed accuracy. I think what it comes down to is I know my heart and my sin, and it’s much easier to live with myself when I believe others are as bad or worse off that I am. As I reread that it really sounds horrible to think that way and live that way, but unfortunately it’s truth, and sometimes truth hurts!

Festus couldn’t find anything to charge Paul with, so finally he offered to send Paul back to Jerusalem. I think Paul was led by the Spirit at this moment and he knew what was waiting for him on the road to Jerusalem, so he appealed to Caesar. Again, the path that God wanted him to go down and the road the He had set before Paul didn’t make much sense, but it was His path. Being stuck in jail and taken from prison to prison could not have been how Paul foresaw he would be sharing the gospel message, but it was the most effective method because it was God’s design.

King Agrippa rolls into town and Festus told him all about what was going on in his courts. Again, as he is describing this disagreement between Paul and the Jews he realizes and understands that it is not a legal issue, it is a religious issue. It is a disagreement about religion, and the legal court system really isn’t the place to sort these things out. Festus could tell right away that it was a spiritual battle that was going on, and it makes me wonder how many times in life I miss the spiritual battles. There are all kinds of battles, especially as I think about raising 3 kids; there are all kinds of battles that are fought. How many are really spiritual that I am just missing? As we’ve been working on and preparing for the launch of New Heights Church, one thing we’ve talked about as a staff is where Satan is trying to attack. Again, when we met with the Westwind Elders this week, the question was asked: “Where is Satan attacking you?” As we’ve prayed about these things and as I’ve reflected over the last month or two, we have faced more battles in this short time period than we’ve faced in years. One of those battles we’ve been fighting is with our kids. They have been tougher to teach and disciple and discipline in the last 6 weeks than at any other point in their lives, and it’s easy to fall into the trap of wondering how we are failing as parents or what we’ve done wrong to cause these things to happen. As we have talked and reflected, we see that Satan is coming after our family and he is working through our kids and our relationships with them and, in turn, our interactions as husband and wife as well. As God is moving in incredible ways and because we know we are at the beginning of an incredible work of God, Satan isn’t happy, and he’s coming after us. And while that is frustrating and angers me that he would use my kids, I also have peace in knowing that Jesus has already defeated Satan once, and with Jesus we will defeat Him once again. I take peace in knowing that our kids are not just spoiled little brats (not completely anyway) but they are caught up in the middle of a spiritual battle. I’m not very good at recognizing that, and I need to be better because if I can recognize it quicker I’ll be able to fight back with the right weapons and the right ammunition. Rather than racking our brains over what else we can do as parents, we can gather together and pray that the forces of Satan would be pushed away. Festus understood that the issue between Paul and the Jews was spiritual, and he knew he had no power or control over such matters. When we are fighting spiritual battles, we’ve got to understand that we don’t have any power or control over those matters, but instead we need to ask our mighty warrior Jesus to come fight for us, and He will!

Father even right now I want to lift up my family and just ask that you would keep Satan away. He is trying to get a foothold, he is trying to gain some traction, and we don’t want anything to do with that. God help me to grab my wife and my kids in the middle of those attacks and just petition you for your protection and for your defense, not ours.

Festus and Agrippa came into the auditorium and got ready to listen to Paul’s defense. Festus sets the stage and we’ll see in chapter 26 what Paul has to say!