Paul denied the charges. “I am not guilty of any crime against the Jewish laws or the Temple or the Roman government,” he said. Then Festus, wanting to please the Jews, asked him, “Are you willing to go to Jerusalem and stand trial before me there?” But Paul replied, “No! This is the official Roman court, so I ought to be tried right here. You know very well I am not guilty of harming the Jews. If I have done something worthy of death, I don’t refuse to die. But if I am innocent, no one has a right to turn me over to these men to kill me. I appeal to Caesar!” Festus conferred with his advisers and then replied, “Very well! You have appealed to Caesar, and to Caesar you will go!” (Acts 25:8-12)Paul had gone all over the world. and everywhere he went, there was the same faction of people opposing him and harassing him and beating him, sometimes almost to death. They were like rabid dogs. They would not leave him alone.
His crime? He dared to tell them things were changing and that they were no longer in charge.
Paul preached the Kingdom of God and his grace. He said that the law was over and now there was a new system of love and grace. They said, No! There is stuff we have to do and we are the arbiters of that stuff.
Even though he had been all over the world, he found himself in jail for over two years about fifty miles from Jerusalem, where he had begun. For two years, he sat in this jail while the man in charge, the Roman governor, waited for someone to give him graft money for Paul’s release.
Finally a new guy comes and the first thing that happens is that all of the old people come up with all of the old charges in all of the old ways. The new governor, Festus, is surprised that it is just what seems to him to be a minor doctrinal dispute. He asks if Paul would go back to Jerusalem to stand trial for all this?
Paul is finally at the end of his patience. He is through with all this trash. He says, no. he is a Roman citizen, and with that citizenship there are privileges. He appeals to Caesar. That stops everything short.
No more screaming Jews, no more trumped up charges that were false. He evoked his rights of citizenship. He is finished with them.
There is nothing wrong with using your citizenship to do what needs to be done.
We have a right to pray in America, but today it seems we have to go to the law to be able to do so. We have a right to buy property to have a church but it seems all too often we have to go to the law to be able to exercise that right.
We have a right to be open and above board Christians in everything we do. Yet we have to appeal to Caesar entirely too many times. Even though our Supreme Court has ruled that Christians have the right to pray publicly and all, still we have to fight.
Paul had to fight and we will. And that is alright.
Romans 13:4 says: The authorities are God’s servants, sent for your good. The law is there for good people as well as bad. use it if you need to.
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