Father, thank You for the wherewithal to get through so much of my sermon today. I pray tomorrow, as well, is a productive day!

Acts 25:1-22 (<<click here to read the passage)

I thoroughly enjoy history! My family finds it of little interest…it doesn’t hold a lot of meaning for them. But I enjoy reading about it and watching shows about it, but one thing I struggle with is writing about Biblical history.

Now often I can find inspiration in the actions of the characters in the stories as they move along but, in Acts, for example, it has become difficult. These verses, in particular, are basically a historical record of what transpired between Festus, the Sanhedrin, Paul, and a tad bit at the end for King Agrippa II and his wife Beatrice.

A few different people are involved but overall, it is the same conflict. Even though a full two years have passed, the friction between Paul and the Jewish leadership hasn’t changed. Paul is still innocent, and the Sanhedrin are still out to kill him. Roman hierarchy is still unsure what to do about it all in that from their perspective, no civil or criminal crimes have been committed. As Festus puts it,

…instead they had some points of disagreement with him about their own religion and about one Jesus, a man who had died, but whom Paul kept asserting and insisting [over and over] to be alive. vs19

Festus was at a loss as to how to investigate these things… vs20 AMP

Almost 1000 years before Paul, “wise” King Solomon wrote,

“Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless!”

What do people get for all their hard work under the sun? Generations come and generations go, but the earth never changes. The sun rises and the sun sets, then hurries around to rise again. The wind blows south, and then turns north. Around and around it goes, blowing in circles. Rivers run into the sea, but the sea is never full. Then the water returns again to the rivers and flows out again to the sea. Everything is wearisome beyond description. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content.

History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new. Sometimes people say, “Here is something new!” But actually it is old; nothing is ever truly new. We don’t remember what happened in the past, and in future generations, no one will remember what we are doing now. Ecclesiastes 1:2-11 NLT

Can you relate? Solomon even with all of his wisdom, power, and wealth found life meaningless. From his viewpoint, there was no hope.

Paul had wisdom – true wisdom – yet he had no earthly wealth or power. But from his viewpoint, he had the only hope that mattered!

In Acts 25:19 Paul kept asserting and insisting [over and over] that Jesus was alive! When all is said and done human history will be found to be completely meaningless. Paul invested wisely and so are we if we keep asserting and insisting over and over that Christ is alive, for there, and only there, lies our hope!

Aug 10th, 2022, Wed, 8:56 pm