Acts 25:23-27

Acts 25:23-27

Sermon preached on November 19, 2006 by Laurence W. Veinott. © Copyright 2006. All rights reserved. Other sermons can be found at http://www.newlifeop.org/.


The movie star Jack Palance died a few days ago. He was most well known for his roles in the movies "Shane" and "City Slickers". A section of his obituary in the New York Times read, (From NY Times, 11/11/06)

"When reporters asked him what he thought about most of his films, he tended to dismiss them as 'garbage.'"

It seemed that he was saying that being a movie star wasn't all it was cracked up to be. I also recently read an interview with Omar Sharif, and he was asked, (movies.about.com)

"Why did you decide to take a long time off between movies?"

Apparently he had taken several years off. He replied,

"I intended not to work again unless something made me enthusiastic. I wanted to stop making lousy films, which I've been making for about 30 years – which is a long time for making lousy films."

Most people think that being a movie star is glamorous and exciting and that it's brings satisfaction and contentment. But those two stars, looking back over their life's work, said that most of it was garbage. The pomp and circumstance of being a movie star isn't what it's thought to be.

If you've looked at a newspaper or viewed any news sites on the web this week you've no doubt seen the headlines about Tom Cruise and Katie Holms plans to get married outside Rome. I don't know how many marriages that is for Tom, I've lost count. Does glamour and fame bring contentment? At best, for a very short time. Essentially it's all vanity. It doesn't satisfy. It leaves you empty.

That's what our text teaches us. Luke tells us that King Agrippa and Bernice came in to the courtroom with,

"great pomp"

They came with much pageantry, with a great 'outward show' or 'display'.

Picture the scene. King Agrippa and Bernice arrive with all the pomp and circumstance that ancient Rome and the city of Caesarea could muster. Perhaps the closest we come to this in our lives is the preparation for a bride to walk down the aisle. She has bridesmaids who come in before her. There is music heralding her arrival and entrance. So it was with King Agrippa and Bernice. Perhaps there were trumpets heralding their arrival. Perhaps there were attendants who marched them in with great fanfare. John Stott quotes Barclay and says that King Agrippa and Bernice, (Stott, p. 369)

"would have on their purple robes of royalty and the gold circlet of the crown on their brows. Doubtless, Festus, to do honor to the occasion, had donned the scarlet robe which a governor work on state occasions."

With them came the high ranking officers and the leading men of the city. Who were they? We don't even know their names. But they were part of this great procession of pomp and glory.

Contrast this with Paul and his entrance. The only mention of Paul is this section is that at Festus' command, he was brought in. Festus doesn't even mention his name! Instead he says, (verse 24)

"King Agrippa,
and all who are present with us,
you see this man!"

From the world's perspective, Paul was the least important person in the room. He was the prisoner. He was the only one who did not have his freedom. John Stott suggests that he was most likely bound in handcuffs. Perhaps he was chained. At the very least, he had a guard or two beside him. John Stott writes about Paul's appearance, (p. 369)

"According to tradition, he was only a little fellow and unprepossessing in appearance, balding, with beetle brows, hooked nose and brandy legs…"

What a contrast there must have been between the pomp and circumstance of King Agrippa, Bernice, Festus and the others—and the lowly Paul. Yet it's important to realize that most people today only know of King Agrippa, Bernice and Festus because of their association with Paul. The vast majority of the people today that know their names are only familiar with them because they know the Bible and their connection with the apostle Paul. But their pride and pomp and circumstance deceived them.

Don't let that happen to you. Don't be deceived by the pomp of the world. There are three things here that should help you not be deceived by the pomp of the world.

The first reason we should not be taken in by the pomp of this world is that

the pomp of the world is fleeting, it's a charade. It doesn't last.

The Greek word that Luke used is that is translated 'pomp' is 'fantasias', from which we get our English word, 'fantasy'. James Montgomery Boice writes, (Acts, p. 403)

"It refers to something light, fleeting, or passing, something of momentary interest only.""When we see impressive things of this world they usually seem to be what is lasting or stable. Indeed, what could be more stable, more impressive, more weighty than the Roman Empire in the person of those who represented it? Yet Luke is suggesting it was all fantasy, all even then in the process of passing away. The pomp and pageantry passed away first. They did not even last out the day. The servants removed the flags, and it was all over. In time the people also passed away. They died. Eventually, even the Roman Empire passed away. It was overrun by barbarians."

The things of this world do not last. Yet how the pomp of the world has people fooled today. They think it has meaning, that it will last.

There's a Verizon ad on TV that illustrates this. The Verizon ads focus on their network—they represent this by the guy with hundreds of people around him. A guy goes in a buys a phone and he goes out of the store and there's the Verizon guy with hundreds of people around him, who go with the guy wherever he goes. Their latest ad shows has a competing network and the two groups meet and look at each other. The other network says that they're just as good—and sure enough, he's surrounded by people, his network. But then someone goes up and touches one with his finger and it's revealed that they're all cardboard cutouts and they all fall like dominos. That's the idea here. The pomp of the world, the 'display' that it puts on—whether it be riches, fame, success—it's false, it's phony. It's really not even real—it's a charade.

The sad thing is that it fools people today. I heard recently about a young man whose goal was to become very rich before he was 40. How foolish. What if he achieves his goal? Will his money last? Will he be able to enjoy it? Not for long. Remember the story that Jesus told about the rich fool? In Luke 12:16f Jesus said,

"The ground of a certain rich man
produced a good crop.
He thought to himself, 'What shall I do?
I have no place to store my crops.'
Then he said, 'This is what I'll do.
I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones,
and there I will store all my grain and my goods.
And I'll say to myself,
'You have plenty of good things
laid up for many years.
Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.'
But God said to him,
'You fool! This very night
your life will be demanded from you.
Then who will get
what you have prepared for yourself?'
This is how it will be with anyone
who stores up things for himself
but is not rich toward God."

Riches do not last. They are vanity. Proverbs 11:28 says,

"Whoever trusts in his riches
will fall,"

In Ecclesiastes 6:1-2 Solomon wrote,

"I have seen another evil under the sun,
and it weighs heavily on men:
God gives a man wealth,
possessions and honor,
so that he lacks nothing his heart desires,
but God does not enable him to enjoy them,
and a stranger enjoys them instead."

The riches of this world are not worth setting your heart on. Even if you get them—you may not be able to enjoy them. If you do get to enjoy them—that time will be very brief.

Revelation 18:14 tells us about the fate of Babylon its glory and splendor, and what will happen to them in the day of her doom,

"They will say,
'The fruit you longed for is gone from you.
All your riches and splendor have vanished,
never to be recovered.'"

The pomp of the world will pass away and never be recovered. 2 Peter 3:10-11 says that it,

"will be destroyed by fire,
and the earth and everything in it
will be laid bare."

Jesus Himself warned us not to lay up for ourselves treasures on earth. In Matthew 6:19-20 Jesus said,

"Do not store up for yourselves
treasures on earth,
where moth and rust destroy,
and where thieves break in and steal.
But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where moth and rust do not destroy,
and where thieves do not break in and steal."

The pomp of this world is fleeting. It's here today and gone tomorrow, never to return.

In contrast to that, Paul's work in the Lord was of lasting value, it had eternal meaning. Paul has one of the highest places in heaven. He's with Jesus, enjoying Him, praising Him, serving Him, reflecting His glory—receiving his reward. Remember what he said in 2 Timothy 4:8?

"Now there is in store for me
the crown of righteousness,
which the Lord, the righteous Judge,
will award to me on that day—and not only to me,
but also to all who have longed for his appearing."

This can be for you too. In Matthew 10:42 Jesus said,

"And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water
to one of these little ones
because he is my disciple,
I tell you the truth,
he will certainly not lose his reward."

Treasures in heaven last. The pomp and circumstance of this world does not last. It is foolish to set your heart on the things of this earth.

The second reason you should not be deceived by the pomp of the world is the fact that

it can do you no real good.

You can have all the pomp in the world and it will not do your soul any good. Pomp does us no lasting good. It doesn't help us spiritually. It doesn't save us from our sins. Indeed, it may harm us because it can cloud our hearts and minds to the things of real value. John Calvin writes,

"Agrippa and his sister do not come as humble disciples of Christ, but bring a pomp and splendor that would close their ears and blind their eyes."

King Agrippa and Bernice did not believe. Why? Part of the reason was because the pomp of the world had blinded their eyes to their need of Jesus. It deceived them.

They should have known better. J. A. Alexander writes,

"this display was made almost upon the very spot where their father, a few years before, was smitten by an angel and devoured by worms, for the indulgence of a pride very similar to that supposed to be here charged upon his children."

Their father Herod had been struck down in the midst of great pomp and circumstance. Remember the story? It's in Acts 12. We read, (verses 19f)

"Then Herod went from Judea to Caesarea
and stayed there a while.
He had been quarreling
with the people of Tyre and Sidon;
they now joined together
and sought an audience with him.
Having secured the support of Blastus,
a trusted personal servant of the king,
they asked for peace, because they depended
on the king's country for their food supply.
On the appointed day Herod,
wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne
and delivered a public address to the people.
They shouted,
'This is the voice of a god, not of a man.'
Immediately, because Herod
did not give praise to God,
an angel of the Lord struck him down,
and he was eaten by worms and died."

What pomp surrounded Herod. The people were declaring him to be a god! The pomp of the world doesn't get any greater than that. But Herod's enjoyment of it was very brief. He was immediately struck down. He perished. The pomp he surrounded himself with, the praise that he received from the people—none of it did him any good. Indeed, it greatly harmed him—it led to his death and destruction.

Note the contrast between this world's pomp and what it delivered and the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ that Paul preached. It's important to note that right after Luke records Herod's death in Acts 12, he wrote, (Acts 12:24)

"But the word of God
continued to increase and spread."

Herod perished. But the gospel endured. It continued to increase and be a blessing to people.

But our society doesn't see that. At the height of the Beatles' popularity, the John Lennon declared that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus and that rock and roll would perhaps endure longer than Christianity. He said,

"Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue with that; I'm right and I will be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first - rock 'n' roll or Christianity."

How wrong he was. Christianity is not go to fade away. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 24:35?

"Heaven and earth will pass away,
but my words will never pass away."

Christianity will endures It will last forever. But the pomp of the world is fleeting.

Where is King Agrippa today? Where is Bernice? Where is Festus? What good did all their pomp do them? In contrast to Paul, who is in glory, in complete happiness and joy with Jesus—it seems that King Agrippa, Bernice, Festus and many of the leading citizens and officials who heard Paul that day are now in hell. What a contrast! Agrippa, Bernice, Festus and the others were more interested in the pomp of earthly things than the things of eternity. King Agrippa and Bernice didn't learn the lesson from their father's death. Herod died. He was eaten by worms. He went to hell's fires. His pomp did him no good. So too with them.

But not so the apostle Paul. His work for Jesus was not in vain. He has his crown of glory. In 1 Corinthians 15:58 the apostle Paul wrote,

"Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm.
Let nothing move you.
Always give yourselves
fully to the work of the Lord,
because you know that
your labor in the Lord is not in vain."

Don't be deceived by the pomp of the world. All the pomp and circumstance of the world is vanity. None of it can be of lasting benefit to you. It's vanity, a chasing after the wind.

The third reason you should not be deceived by the pomp of the world is because

it does not satisfy.

Was King Agrippa satisfied? Was Bernice? We're not told in specific terms. But Solomon in all his glory was so much above them and yet he found that nothing of this world satisfied. In Ecclesiastes 2:3f Solomon told of his pursuit of meaning in life. He wrote,

"I wanted to see what was worthwhile
for men to do under heaven
during the few days of their lives.
I undertook great projects:
I built houses for myself and planted vineyards.
I made gardens and parks
and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them.
I made reservoirs
to water groves of flourishing trees.
I bought male and female slaves
and had other slaves
who were born in my house.
I also owned more herds and flocks
than anyone in Jerusalem before me.
I amassed silver and gold for myself,
and the treasure of kings and provinces.
I acquired men and women singers,
and a harem as well—
the delights of the heart of man.
I became greater by far
than anyone in Jerusalem before me.
In all this my wisdom stayed with me.
I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;
I refused my heart no pleasure.
My heart took delight in all my work,
and this was the reward for all my labor.
Yet when I surveyed all that my hands
had done and what I had toiled to achieve,
everything was meaningless,
a chasing after the wind;
nothing was gained under the sun."

Nothing of this world that Solomon pursued brought him lasting satisfaction. He pursued pleasure, but it disappointed. He pursued riches, work, wisdom, advancement—yet they all disappointed. So we can safely assume that King Agrippa and Bernice weren't truly satisfied. All the pomp and riches of this world are vanity.

The things of this world do not satisfy. In Isaiah 55:2 the prophet said,

"Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?"

Yet the world thinks that fame, power, wealth, glamour satisfy. Society today tells us to pursue wealth and money, fame and success. But does it satisfy? Ecclesiastes 5:10 tells us,

"Whoever loves money
never has money enough;
whoever loves wealth
is never satisfied with his income.
This too is meaningless."

Do you desire fame, success, do you desire to be someone important? No matter how much of those things you gain, they will never satisfy.

Greg Lemond was one of the greatest cyclists who ever lived. He won the Tour de France three times. If things had been different, he might have won it many times more. He could have won it in 1985, but his team ordered him to work for a teammate, and he was denied the title when he could have won. He won it the next year. Then he was shot by his brother-in-law in a hunting accident. It took him almost two years to recover and regain his form. He came back in 1989 and 1990 and won the Tour both of those years. He was at the top of the cycling world. But did it satisfy? He looked back on it and said, (Interview on OLN, July 2006)

"Cycling does not define me. It is not who I am. When I was done I was like what could have been, should have been. If I would have won in 85 and I didn't get shot I could have won five or six Tours. For whatever reason I felt like I needed to show who I was. And I think a lot of cyclists are motivated for that. But one thing I've learned that, you know, I could have won ten Tours de France and it never would have filled the void of the emptiness in part of my heart. It would never have filled that. I could have won, I couldn't have gotten enough Tour de Frances to fill some parts of my life that were very painful."

Nothing in the world can fill the void that sin has created in our hearts. Riches, power, pleasure, fame, don't satisfy.

So I ask you,

what do you want out of life? What are your goals in life? What are you pursuing?

Are you pursuing money, fame, power, pleasure, pomp? Is that what you want out of life? Don't go there. None of it will help you. Indeed, it could destroy you like it did King Agrippa and Bernice, and their father Herod.

Those of you who are not Christians—don't let the pomp of this world keep you from Jesus. In Luke 8 Jesus told the Parable of the Sower and He explained the seed that fell among thorns. He said, (verse 14)

"The seed that fell among thorns
stands for those who hear,
but as they go on their way
they are choked by life's worries,
riches and pleasures,
and they do not mature."

Don't let the pomp of this world blind your eyes to what Jesus offers.

No, you need to be seeking the one thing that does satisfy—

life in Jesus.

If you have Christ, you have everything. In Him we receive the forgiveness of sins. In Him we gain freedom from the slavery of sin. In Him we gain the Spirit who sanctifies us and makes us useful to Christ. In 1 Corinthians 3:21-22 the apostle Paul wrote,

"So then, no more boasting about men!
All things are yours,
whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas
or the world or life or death
or the present or the future—
all are yours,
and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God."

Lastly, for Christians,

set your heart on things of real value.

Don't set it on the pomp of this world. The pomp of this world is of no value. But serving Christ, even in ways that are small and looked down upon by the world—has eternal value. Remember when Jesus saw the people putting money in the temple treasury? We read, (Mark 12:41)

"Many rich people threw in large amounts.
But a poor widow came
and put in two very small copper coins,
worth only a fraction of a penny.
Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said,
'I tell you the truth,
this poor widow has put more
into the treasury than all the others.
They all gave out of their wealth;
but she, out of her poverty,
put in everything—all she had to live on.'"

How pleased God was with her. Yet the rich probably looked down upon her and her gift. Christians, see through the vanity of the things of this world and humbly serve Jesus. As He said in Matthew 6:33,

"But seek first his kingdom
and his righteousness,"

Focus on Christ, on His glory, on serving Him, on praising Him. As we are told in Jeremiah 9:23f,

"This is what the LORD says:
'Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom
or the strong man boast of his strength
or the rich man boast of his riches,
but let him who boasts boast about this:
that he understands and knows me,
that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness,
justice and righteousness on earth,
for in these I delight,'
declares the LORD."

• Acts 25:23-27