Lechem Panim #233 “Faithfulness in The Mundane” (Acts 25:23-27) Pastor Cameron Ury

Hello and welcome to the show today! It is such a pleasure to have you with us again today as we study the Word of God together.

God’s Purpose in Dark Times— One of the things I think God has been helping me to get better at (and He’s been doing this both through the pandemic, but also through my sister-in-law’s situation and her journey here to the United States from war-torn Kiev, Ukraine) is that the trials and tribulations we face are not just something to get through. No, God has a purpose He wants to work in and through those trials. God has purposes He wants to accomplish not just despite the trials we face, but in and through them. God had purposes in preventing Natasha from coming here until the right time. And in preventing what would have been our time-table, her situation became the grounding out of which many Ukrainians ended up getting help, not just her. And so God has been pushing me to get better at recognizing this, even if at the time I might not know what that purpose is. And so I am learning to see my problems; or my family’s problems; or my Church’s problems as God’s opportunities. And that’s one of the areas in which Paul really shined. Here in our passage today we find Paul in prison; literally in chains. And the charges against him are so unabashedly false and unsubstantiated, that he should have been acquitted right away. But instead he has been held in prison by Felix, then Festus, and now he’s going to be made to appear before Herod Agrippa before then getting sent to Caesar. The whole thing is such a farce. It’s just like that recent break-in over at the car park; wrong on so many levels. But is Paul focused on the chains? No. He’s looking for the opportunities. And the one he sees in our passage today comes after military officers and prominent city leaders meet in this grand auditorium with King Agrippa to hear his case. He doesn’t go into victim mode, which might have been easy to do. Instead, he sees a new audience to whom he will have an opportunity to present the Gospel, which of course we will see him do. But what we need to see at the outset is that this mindset is the mindset of Christ; and it’s something we need to have. Now it’s not natural to us, but thankfully it is something the Holy Spirit can create in us if we let Him; to be freed from that first impulse to doubt, despair, and feel like a victim; to look for the possibility in the midst of a lot of difficulty. Go ahead and look with me at verse 23. It says…

Acts 25:23 (NKJV)— 23 So the next day, when Agrippa and Bernice had come with great pomp, and had entered the auditorium with the commanders and the prominent men of the city, at Festus’ command Paul was brought in.

“Great Pomp”— Now that word “pomp” in the original Greek is phantasia. And this is the only place in the New Testament that it appears. And what it denotes is this large, showy, grandiose pageant. What has happened is that Festus [has turned Paul’s hearing into an occasion to honor {King} Agrippa.] So it is quite the spectacle. Agrippa would have been wearing splendid royal garments, which would have included [a purple robe, golden crown and rings, and likely a scepter.] Bernice would have been elaborately adorned as well. [The five tribunes would have been wearing their full-dress uniforms] and the prominent men of the city would have been wearing their best and finest. And this entourage was very likely escorted to the auditorium by [An immaculately dressed honor guard of soldiers].

The One Remembered— Now in thinking about the opening of this passage, I find it humorous that Herod Agrippa II and Bernice are the ones who are given this lavish spectacle of praise while Paul is in chains; because over two thousand years later, Herod Agrippa II and Bernice are the ones historians and preachers have to explain as to who they even were, while Paul is the one everyone knows. I mean, just think. These people (Agrippa II and Bernice, but even bigger guys like Nero) mean pretty much nothing to us. It may be interesting to learn about them simply because they are historical figures and it is good to know history. But there is nothing about their lives that is either wholesome or relevant to us today. However, when it comes to Paul, he’s incredibly relevant to us. Who he was and the writings he left us (or I should say God left us through him) are absolutely fundamental to who we are and how we live. All the pompous people have become diminished and God’s righteous ones have been exalted. True has proved the prophecy that on person so eloquently spoke when they said “The day will come when men will call their dogs Nero and their sons Paul.”. That reminds me so much of what Jesus said in…

Matthew 23:11-12 (NKJV)— 11 But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. {Or, like it says in…}

Psalm 1:3-4 (ESV)— 3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. 4 The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

When The Wind Blows— Well, the wind of time has blown; Agrippa II and Bernice are the chaff no longer hardly even remembered, while the the memory of God’s faithful servant Paul is stronger and wider-reaching than ever. And, you know, that should be an encouragement to us.

Faithfulness In The Mundane— This week I was talking with a friend of mine who is pastoring a small church out in the country. And we were talking about ministry and he said that honestly, he was little discouraged. He is pouring his life out for Christ in ministry to his Church, but told me he was wondering if he was really making any kind of difference. And I have been in ministry long enough and have talked with enough pastors and mentors of pastors to know that that feeling is pretty common. Many pastors feel like failures. And that can be for many reasons; and sometimes that feeling can come because we come out of seminary thinking we’re going to bring great and visible tidal waves of change in the churches we come to pastor. But then we get into those ministry contexts and find that the fields are not always ripe for harvest. There has to be tilling and plowing and sowing and waiting. Change and growth often does not happen as quickly as we would like. You have to sow faithfully (often for a long period time) before you begin to see the sprouts of change. But I knew that my friend has been faithfully preaching the Word of God and loving on his people. He has been a good shepherd. And good things are sprouting. People in his church who never knew any except the most basic Bible stories are now starting to really (through my friend) receive an understanding of what the Bible is all about. And some are coming to him with questions that they had no framework before to even ask; and are now excitedly telling him what God is revealing to them in the Word. Before my friend had come many of them were not even reading their Bible.
    Now it’s easy to get discouraged when we are dealing with the small things; the mundane things. But (and scripture backs this up time and time again) faithfulness in the mundane is the seed of the extraordinary. Faithfulness in the mundane is the seed of the extraordinary. The work that you and I do for Christ, though it may seem small, when all of the pomp of the world has been blown away, it will stand as an everlasting, fragrant offering before God as unshakeable as God Himself, because it is in Him that those works have been established. And the people we will see in heaven glorified and adorned most richly will be people we’ve never even heard of; people who never made it out of the prison cell for their faith; people who served behind the scenes; people who obeyed God in the inglorious, day to day task of just being ordinary, faithful, inglorious disciples. Taking a cup of soup to a homeless person; being a mom to a special needs child; walking with someone through an illness; giving of your own resources so that another person might have, even if that might mean you have to do without some things. That’s the stuff of glory. Wherever God has placed you, whoever He has brought into your life; that is your mission field. And in that field are buried crowns just waiting to be dug up and claimed. Now after all of the pompousness has been quieted down, Festus gets up. And it says in…

Acts 25:24 (NKJV)— 24 And Festus said: “King Agrippa and all the men who are here present with us, you see this man about whom the whole assembly of the Jews petitioned me, both at Jerusalem and here, crying out that he was not fit to live any longer.

Not Honest— Now we know that the Jewish leaders of whom Festus are speaking are like atoms. They make up everything. They’re like people with selfie sticks. They need to take a good, long look at themselves. Or like the people who tell me they do yoga every day. That's a bit of a stretch. I mean, they’re not honest. And Agrippa discovers this after his exam continues…

Acts 25:25-27 (NKJV)— 25 But when I found that he had committed nothing deserving of death, and that he himself had appealed to Augustus {(and of course we know that that is because he couldn’t get justice from Agrippa)}, I decided to send him. 26 I have nothing certain to write to my lord concerning him. Therefore I have brought him out before you, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after the examination has taken place I may have something to write. 27 For it seems to me unreasonable to send a prisoner and not to specify the charges against him.”

Formulating A Charge— Now, as we said before, Festus ought to have acquitted Paul. But he wants peace with the Jews (particularly the Jewish leaders who are complaining) and so he cunningly is seeking to use Herod Agrippa (who knew the Jews well both from his father, but also from his having lived in Jerusalem for a long time) to [help him formulate some kind of legal charge against Paul that would make sense to the Romans.] And so it says…

Acts 26:1a (NKJV)— 1 Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You are permitted to speak for yourself.”

Nothing Done for Jesus is Small— And next week we will see Paul’s defense. But this week remember that, no matter what God has called you to do, nothing that is done for Jesus is small. A kid’s meal was once placed in the hands of Jesus He was able to multiply and used it to feed over 5,000 people. But that is the key; putting your situation into the hands of Jesus, keeping it there, and looking forward to the day of harvest. Let us continue to sow faithfully today and every day. Amen.