Acts 21-22
What radical changes have you
made in your life that shows that you are a disciple of Jesus Christ? What
decisions have you made that have drastically changed your submission to Christ
as your Lord? Paul very graphically expresses how he had surrendered all his
rights of an apostle for the sake of Christ. He said,
“For though I am free to all, I have made myself a servant to all, that
I might win more of them. To the Jews I became a Jew, in order to win Jews. To
those under the law … to those outside the law … to the weak … so that I might
win them to Christ. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I
might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with
them in its blessings.” (1Cor. 9:19-23)
Is this written for all of us
to follow or is it written for us to know how great an apostle Paul was? I am
sure that this is written for us so that we may become competent in conviction
and in practice so that we may be wise for salvation; and that we may be
thoroughly equipped for the good work. We are expected to follow Apostle Paul
as He follows Christ. Now if this is true then we have a few questions to answer
that would build us in becoming all things
to all people, that by all means we might save some. Amen? Are you saying
Amen – that you and me, may be willing to become all things to all people for
their eternal salvation?
In this passage we see Paul who
is now counting days prior to Pentecost – six weeks had passed since he left
Philippi. From Caesarea he would have to travel sixty-five miles to Jerusalem. May
we try to chart the way Paul spent the time between Passover and Pentecost:
First week Left
Philippi after Easter
Travel
to Troas (20:6) for five days
Second week Spend seven
days in Troas (20:6)
Third Week Travel to
Miletus (20:13-16) for four days
Fourth week Travel from
Miletus to Tyre (21:1-3) for seven days
Fifth week Spend
seven days in Tyre (21:4)
Sixth week Travel
to Ptolemais (21:7) for one day
Spend
one day in Ptolemais (21:7)
Travel
Caesarea (21:8) for one day
Seventh week Spend several days in Caesarea (21:10, 15)
Travel
to Jerusalem (21:15) for two or three days
Arrive in Jerusalem (21:17)
What does it mean to be a
disciple of Jesus?
Then Jesus
told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself
and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose
it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Mat 16:24-25 ESV.
Being a disciple of Christ is
indeed a life of victory although it involves constant warfare with sin and the
flesh. It therefore requires courage to face suffering (21:1-16), to be
gracious (21:17-26); and to speak out for Jesus (21:27-22:21). For these you
need three essentials to make us become all things to all men, in order to win
them to Christ:
1.
You need the courage to face
suffering (21:1-16)
Paul was a man who said about his own life that to live was for Christ and to die was gain.
While in Ephesus he was all the more eager to preach the gospel even when there
was the unruly crowd. He did not count his life worthy of him. But thankfully
his disciples and friendly Asiarchs made everything possible to make sure that
he did not enter the theatre to address the crowd that was unruly, and so
managed to rescue Paul from physical injury (19:30-31). But he later in Miletus
told the Ephesian elders that, “I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by
the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy
Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await
me.” (Act 20:22-23)
In Caesarea the situation is
different because Paul knew that the Holy Spirit was compelling him to travel
to Jerusalem (19:21; 20:22). He saw every manifestation of the Spirit on this
point as a confirmation of the mandate to demonstrate in Jerusalem the unity of
Christ’s expanding church. Although the Holy Spirit had the same message for
Paul both in Tyre and Caesarea, Paul responded in Caesarea that by their
weeping they were breaking his heart. It was not that he was obstinate,
although that is the way it appeared, he was being obedient to the Holy Spirit.
What was going on in the mind
of Paul?
"What are you doing, weeping and breaking
my heart? For I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem
for the name of the Lord Jesus." (V.13)
He accepted the message of the Holy Spirit to Him and
to others and did not in any way consider it contradictory. These brethren were
concerned for him and so they warned him as the danger that awaited him.
Many of us have remained unable to impact the people
that we live with simply because our main goal in life is self-preservation.
Paul counted his life worthy nothing, if only he may finish the race and
complete the work that the Lord Jesus had given him – the task of testifying
the gospel of the grace of God (20:24). This does not mean that he did not
value the life that God gave him. John Calvin puts it quiet well – he was not gripped
by a blind love of living so as to lose sight of the reasons for living.
Brethren and friends, fellow disciples of Christ, let us bear in mind that this
life is not an end in itself. We are supposed to put the Biblical value of our
lives and this is when our satisfaction is found in doing the will of God. And
this is not only applied to those in vocational ministry but to everyone who is
a believer in Christ, so that his words to the church in Corinth would make
sense to all of us, “For we who live are always being
given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be
manifested in our mortal flesh. (2Cor 4:11)
a) You
have to always be ready to die (V.13)
A number of times in this passage and in the ones
preceding and following it, shows that Paul was ready to suffer all
afflictions, even death for the sake of Christ Jesus. He knew that
imprisonments and afflictions awaited him in every city as the Spirit of God
revealed to him. He had been forewarned by the Lord when He chose him to be His
chosen instrument to carry His name
before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. The Lord said that He
would show him how much he must suffer for the sake of the Name of Christ. (Act
9:15-16)
Therefore, when the Holy Spirit
revealed to the disciples in Troas that Paul was going to face suffering in
Jerusalem, they urged him not to go there just life the Ephesian elders it was
an emotional farewell (v.4). The same warning was dramatically repeated in
Caesarea in the house of Phillip the evangelist by Agabus who had come from
Judea (vv.10-12).
But Paul refused to have them
break his heart because he said “For I am
ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem ..."(v.13)
Very honestly who
is among us who can repeat these words like Paul with a clear conscience? Are
we under the same master? What are you willing to give for Christ? If you were
required to sacrifice your only son like Abraham, would you do it, or you will
rationalize it and disobey? If the Lord required you to sacrifice your career
for Him would you do it? And how much has the God paid for your salvation?
What is the value of your soul? Mark
8:36, “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole
world and forfeit his soul?” for many of us we have put our family
matters number one. But most of us it is the careers which come first and so
all we do, think and dream is how to make our careers shine brighter. For far
more others it is the desire to be rich. There is a place for that, but the
most important thing is to value your soul in terms of how eternity minded you
are. If you would be willing to die for the Lord Jesus Christ then you have
valued your soul to worthy more than the whole world.
b) You
have to do all for the sake Christ (V.13)
Calvin again in his commentary
for Acts says that it is only those who
will freely lay down their lives as a testimony for the truth that will ever be
properly disposed to live for the Lord. My question this morning is, is your life – as marked by your heart,
thoughts, desires, plans and conduct, properly
disposed to live for the Lord? Are you willing to lose your life to your ego in
order to gain Christ? Because this is what it means to be a disciple of
Jesus Christ?
Jesus is worthy of our
self-sacrificial discipleship because of who He is – the eternal Son of God,
our Creator and the Saviour of sinners. He is worthy of our devotion for what
He has done – dying for sinners. He was obedient to the point of death even
death on a cross. He bore the penalty of sin, he bore the wrath of God and
merited eternal life for sinners. He is worthy of all our service because He
forever lives to intercede for us as our Great High-priest and he is coming for
us to be with Him forever.
Paul was willing to die for the
Name of the Lord Jesus. For who else are we worthy to die – for our children or
for our God? For yourself or for the Saviour of your soul? For money or for
salvation? For the inheritance in this world or for the inheritance incorruptible,
that which does not fade away reserved in heaven for us who believe? Paul was
determined to go to Jerusalem for only one reason – for the sake of Christ. He
wanted to go and testify to the Jews of the salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ
whom they had killed. He was ready not only to be imprisoned but even
to die in Jerusalem for the name of
the Lord Jesus.
c) You
must totally submit to the will of God
Paul was a man arrested by the
will of God to do His will. He was living do the will of God. But is it easy to
know the will of God especially when like Paul we know the mandate given us by
God and then there came conflicting messages in Troas and Caesarea? If you have
the Spirit of God, and we know that if anyone does not have the Spirit of
Christ he does not belong to Him (Rom. 8:9), if you have the Holy Spirit then
He will help you to discern the will of God from His written word and
providences. Paul had heard the Word of God of going through much suffering so
when he heard these other messages, He took them as not as a hindrance for Him
from going to Jerusalem but as a warning to Him to prepare him for what was
ahead. The Holy Spirit never contradicts Himself and this is the attitude we
are to always adopt when reading the Bible. there are times when we are unable
to reconcile some passages but even then never look at it as the a problem in
the Bible but rather it is a problem in you for your lack of understanding – so
you pray that the Spirit of God may illuminate your mind.
2.
You need the courage to be
gracious (21:17-26)
a) Graciousness
is a result of heartfelt thankfulness to God
Paul’s graciousness in the
manner of dealing with people is very clearly seen here. Although he could not
be persuaded by anyone to abandon the Jerusalem visit because he wanted to obey
God rather than fear men, upon his arrival in Jerusalem we see a very gracious
Paul. They were received very gladly by
the apostles and the elders. This provided an opportunity to relate all the
things that God was doing among the Gentiles through his ministry. This
prompted them to express their gratefulness to God. He did not ascribe the
success of his ministry to strategy or his abilities or his position – it was
the things that God had done that he related (v.19)
Many would have regarded Paul’s ministry a failure
because of all the problems that he had faced. Listen to what he said, “Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one--I am
talking like a madman--with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with
countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of
the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I
was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at
sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger
from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the
wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship,
through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in
cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on
me of my anxiety for all the churches. (2Cor. 11:23-28)
Paul remained a
servant of Christ and a better one for the Lord made His grace sufficient for
him. If we are going to serve the Lord, then all success and the glory that
comes with it is to go to the Lord. Never say it is because of your money, or
ability or planning or anything else coming from within yourself – all glory
must go to the Lord.
b) Graciousness
flows from the ability to absolve criticism
But as soon as he completed his
report, the apostles and elders in Jerusalem glorified God. These are
transparent and open people and so they told Paul of the reports that have been
coming to them in what Paul has been teaching – that all the Jews among the
Gentiles should abandon the law and their customs, like they should not be
circumcised. Is this what Paul taught? Yes and no.
Christianity has always been
struggling to reconcile the law and grace. And if you walk around most of the
preaching that you will hear is that which presents salvation of works. It is
true that by the works of the law no man is justified because we are saved by
grace alone apart from the law. This is what Paul taught the Jews:
“We
ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a
person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ,
so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith
in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will
be justified.” (Gal 2:15-16)
But no! Paul did
not present it in the manner they put. Remember that this was meant to knock
him down and his ministry by his opponents. This was an opportunity for him to
show them that they were wrong and so when a suggestion to show that he still
followed the Jewish customs (that were not opposed to the truths of the gospel)
he took the opportunity. He heeded the advice of these brethren because they
believed in Paul and Paul trusted them. Remember they had thrashed their
doctrinal differences in Acts 15 and so they were in mutual consensus.
As much as we do
not enjoy being criticized, especially when we think that we do not have to, we
are to be willing to bear all criticism for the sake of Christ. If we are not
going to bear the all reproach for Christ then we deny Him who saved us. We
will be criticized, reproached and insulted for the name of Christ. Many times
these insults might come from our colleagues at work, or our own parent, our
relatives and friends. Sometimes it is other professed believers who give the
Lord lip-service but for us we are to run the course set for us with
perseverance and confidence without turning by the right or by the left. Let us
entrust ourselves to the will of the Lord and be only eager to do His will.
c) Graciousness
is for those who pursue reconciliation
The following day,
very promptly, Paul took the purification rite and was shaved along with those
who were under a vow for seven days so that all
will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that
you yourself also live in observance of the law (v24).
We are to pursue
reconciliation and peace with all men. We are to do everything possible to
pursue peace with all men. Many times it might not be possible but we have to
become peacemakers for us to be sons of God. But there are times when we have
to swallow our own pride if not God humbles us. This provides an opportunity to
grow in humility so as to be better servants of the Lord. We have been given
the ministry of reconciliation and therefore we are to do it with zeal not
counting our lives precious to ourselves.
We are to pursue
this reconciliation by becoming what we do not want to be. Of course the last
thing you want is to tell your boss that he needs Christ. Yes, you don’t want
your colleagues dubbing you a zealot. But the Lord on the other hand is very
clear that if you want to be His disciple then you must put down your self-will
and be willing to do His will. You have to be what Christ wants you to be … you
have to follow Him on His terms – not on yours.
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