Acts 26

It sounds insane. The whole of Christianity sounds insane. God came to earth as a man to teach us about Himself because we just weren't getting it, we killed him (which was part of the plan all along), and as a result, he offers us eternal life for free. What part of that doesn't sound plain crazy? It's such a different way of thinking than how humans work naturally. Add in a bit about seeing a light and hearing voices while driving to a foreign city and you'd think that this was some kind of alien abduction story from The X-Files.

Paul, though, is not concerned with how it sounds because he knows how it works. He's lived on both sides of the fence and he knows God's grace. Not only that, but he's determined to tell as many people as possible about Christianity. To do that he needs to be in front of both the common man and the nobility. Paul recognized that the common man could start a ground swell, but until the nobility embraced Christianity a worldwide change would be almost impossible. That's why he's happy to testify before Felix, Festus, Agrippa, and he's requested an audience with Caesar.

Agrippa would have let him go free if Paul had not requested an audience with Caesar but there would two problems with that scenario. First, Paul wouldn't get to speak to the highest ranking official in the world. Second, Paul would probably be killed without the protection of his Roman prison. How ironic is it that Paul is now in prison for protection rather than punishment? I guess they hadn't really perfected the witness protection program back in the day.

If Paul had been thinking strictly for himself, he might not have requested an audience with Caesar. He might have taken his chances with being set free. The world back then was not very high tech. He could have lived in a hundred different places where he was unknown and probably grown old, but then what would have started the wheels turning to spread Christianity throughout the entire world? Paul had to go to Caesar and at least try.

We know from history that Caesar is not going to just roll over and declare that Christianity is cool and everyone should believe it, but we also know that a seed is going to be planted and that a Caesar down the line will make that declaration. Would that have happened without Paul? I don't know. The real question is whether or not you are looking out for your own interests today or the interests of God and your community?