Through The Bible - Acts 21-22 - Part 3

Brett Meador: What does Paul do? He says, "For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more." I'll do whatever it takes to really let them see the gospel.
Announcer: Pastor Brett Meador and Paul's readiness to contend with any barrier to the gospel.
Brett Meador: Paul's giving us license to realize we're all called to win people over for the gospel. We need to go with the flow of what God is doing with any group of people, and I think sometimes that's required of all of us.
Announcer: Paul reaches a pivotal moment in his ministry in Acts chapters 21 and 22, as he decides to go to Jerusalem against the advice of his fellow believers. Upon his arrival in Jerusalem, he was met by both joyful disciples and fierce opposition, yet he was determined to remain obedient to his missionary calling. Pastor Brett Meador marvels at his example to us in today's word.
Brett Meador: Let's just remind you of our journey. This is the ending of Paul's missionary journey, the third missionary journey, if you recall. It started way back in Antioch. Then he went through Asia Minor, Turkey, Ephesus, visiting the churches previously that he'd ministered along the way. But then after being there in Corinth in Greece, he made his way back, retracing his steps, ending there at Miletus with the elders at Ephesus. And that's where we left off in chapter 20. Now in chapter 21, we're going to see where he's going to leave those guys and where he's going to go next. Well, that's where we pick it up in verse seven, here in Acts 21. Let's read. It says, "When we had finished our course from Tyre, we came to Ptolemais, and saluted the brethren, and abode with them one day. And the next day we were of Paul's company departed and came to Caesarea, and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven, and abode with him." Philip doesn't get much ink in the Bible, but the ink that he gets is outstanding. First of all, we know Philip's called an evangelist in the Bible. He's giving out sermons and his home is impressive. He keeps a home there in Caesarea, which is in the middle of the Roman world. He keeps a very Christian home. He's hospitable even to someone who should have been his enemy. Are you impressed by Philip so far? Well, verse 10 goes on. It says, "And as we tarried there many days, there came down from Judea a certain prophet named Agabus. And when Agabus was come to us, he took Paul's belt, girdle, and bound his own hands and feet and said, 'Thus saith the Holy Ghost: So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.' And when we had heard these things, both we," that's Luke and his team, "and they," that is the people there in Caesarea, "and they of that place besought him not to go up to Jerusalem." Then Paul answered, "What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? For I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus." And when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, "The will of the Lord be done." They're not going to convince Paul. They saw it differently, but they said, "Well, okay, Paul, we love you. Lord's will be done." That's the way they ended this. Well, verse 15 and 16, it says, "And after those days we took up our carriages and went up to Jerusalem." Here they go. "There went with us also certain of the disciples of Caesarea and brought with them one Mnason of Cyprus, an old disciple with whom we should lodge." When it says that he was an old disciple, the Greek word archaeos, some of you are thinking, "That's me, I'm archaic." Well, this isn't necessarily old in years, but the idea is he's one of the original disciples, probably from the book of Acts chapter two, the first three thousand people that were saved into the church. Well, verse 17, "And when we were come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly." Verse 18, "And the day following Paul went in with us unto James, and all the elders were present. And when he had saluted them, he declared particularly what things God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry. And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord." Now, notice when they heard it, they glorified the Lord. The Jerusalem Jews are a little different than the other Jews they'd been meeting on Paul's missionary journeys. They weren't quite so violent and angry, but they were actually glad. Oh, look what's happening here. They're excited about the Gentiles being saved. But there's a bit of a problem here and it's going to ignite to be a big problem. Pick it up in verse 20 again. "And when they heard, they glorified the Lord and said unto him, 'Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe, and they are all zealous of the law. And they are informed of thee that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after their customs. What is it therefore? The multitude must needs come together, for they will hear that thou art come.'" Do you see what's happening here? We've got the Jews saying, "Hey, this is cool. We're so happy for you, Paul. Awesome to see you, bro. But word has it that you're telling some of the Jews that they no longer have to be circumcised, that the Jews don't have to practice the customs and the laws." Now, here's the question: Did Paul tell the Jews to forsake all the Jewish customs and practices? No, he did not tell them that. But one thing we all need to be clear on: what saves a person? Does a person, Jew or Gentile, ever get saved by keeping these laws? No, the Bible says no one was ever saved by keeping these laws. That's the main thing you need to remember. Salvation only comes from Christ dying on the cross alone. That's important. But when it comes to the Jews, whether they practice their laws and rituals and all that stuff, it is an interesting argument. And these guys are saying, "Paul, we need to see where you're at on this." So, check this out. They give him a test. This is interesting. The Jews say, "Paul, sure, yeah, the Gentiles don't have to keep these laws, but we need to know that you're still a law keeper. So, we want you to go with these four guys concluding their Nazarite vow. Go in there and do the rituals in the temple with them as we do, just to let the Jews know, hey, Paul's okay, he's still a practicing Jew." What do you think Paul's going to do? Verse 26 says, "Then Paul took the men, the next day purifying himself with them, entered into the temple to signify the accomplishment of the days of purification until that an offering should be offered for every one of them." What? Paul just did it. What is this? These four guys, if you go to Numbers six and you read what they do, short-term Nazarite vow. It was a way to separate yourself for the Lord, being sanctified. And then at the end of your season of vow, they would go to the temple and worship for seven days in the temple, burn their hair on the altar, by the way. They'd shave their hair off that had been growing for a long time and they'd burn their hair on the altar. So, this is very Jewish. And so they said, "Paul, we want you to do this with those guys, and that will prove to the other Jews that you're still a good Jew." And so, what does Paul do? He does it. And I don't think we'd really know why he did it, except for one thing. Later on, we read why Paul does this kind of stuff. Go with me to 1 Corinthians chapter nine. Paul makes some interesting declarations here that I think answer the question why Paul did that. 1 Corinthians 9:19, "For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews. To them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law. To them that are without law, as without law," that's Gentiles, "being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ, that I might gain them that are without the law or outside of the law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak. I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some." Do you see the answer there that Paul gives? He's saying, "With the Jews I'm going to be a Jew, with the Gentiles I'm going to be a Gentile. I'll do whatever it takes to really let them see the gospel." Some people might call that playacting or hypocrisy. Paul's giving us license to realize we're all called to win people over for the gospel, and I think we should be careful about this. We need to go with the flow of what God is doing with any group of people. Let me give you a more modern-day example of something like this. We have a certain way we do worship here and the way the Spirit moves here at Athey. Maybe you don't know much more about other churches, but then you decide to go down to a vacation in Texas somewhere and you walk into a Baptist church in Texas because you heard Pastor Brett say Baptist are solid, their doctrine's solid, solid good Christian people, so I'm going to go to this Baptist church. So you walk in there in shorts and a t-shirt and you sit down and the worship starts and you're like, "None of these people are lifting their hands to the Lord." The Bible says lift up your hands in the sanctuary and bless the Lord. So there you are and your hands go up, praising the Lord during the hymns and stuff, swaying back and forth, washing the windows, touchdown, all those things. And the Baptist people are horrified. Now, can I just say, when in Rome, do as the Romans. When in Baptist, be as Baptist. Don't go to a church and just try to be different, say, "Well, at my church, we do this." No, I love how Paul's saying, "I'm going to go with the flow of whichever group I'm a part of." And if you go visit a Baptist church, go and approve what is excellent. Now, there's things that I would wish for a Baptist church, that they could maybe be more open to the work of the Holy Spirit, the giftings of the Spirit, but they're good brothers and sisters in the Lord. So, long story short, if you're going to go there that Sunday, say, "We're not going to go and make waves, but we're going to try to find the things we can approve of." And I think sometimes that's required of all of us. Paul does that, but he's in a more radical way because this is life and death stuff. But 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 definitely shows us why Paul did that. Well, quickly because we've got a lot to cover still, verse 27: "And when the seven days were almost ended," that's Paul doing his thing with these four guys in the temple, "the Jews which were of Asia, when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the people and laid hands on him, crying out, 'Men of Israel, help! This is the man that teacheth all men everywhere against the people and the law and this place, the temple. And further brought Greeks also into the temple and hath polluted this holy place.'" For they had seen before him with him in the city Trophimus and Ephesian, whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple. Now they're lying, saying Paul was in the temple all right, but he brought an Ephesian into the temple. Do you understand this is a lie and they're stirring up trouble? Verse 30: "And all the city was moved, and the people ran together, and they took Paul and drew him out of the temple and forthwith the doors were shut. And as they went about to kill him, tidings came to the chief captain of the band that all Jerusalem was in an uproar." So Paul was trying to be all things to all men, goes in the temple, and now the whole city's in an uproar and now the Romans are being brought into the problem. Verse 32: this captain of the band of the army there who, immediately took soldiers and centurions and ran down unto them, and when they saw the chief captain and the soldiers, they left beating of Paul. So the Jews are beating Paul in the middle of the city and the Romans come and then the Jews run away and leave Paul. Then verse 33, "The chief captain came near and took him and commanded him to be bound with two chains and demanded who he was and what he had done. And some cried one thing, some another among the multitude. And when he could not know the certainty for the tumult, he commanded him to be carried into the castle." Now, this castle is called the Roman Antonia Fortress, same place they brought Jesus, by the way. You're going to see some similarities here of Jesus and Paul. Verse 35: "And when he came upon the stairs, so it was he was borne of the soldiers for the violence of the people. For the multitude of the people followed after, crying, 'Away with him!'" Does that sound familiar? Yeah. I wonder if Paul was like, "This is what they said about Jesus in Jerusalem." Verse 37: "And as Paul was to be led into the castle, he said unto the chief captain, 'May I speak unto thee?' Who said, 'Canst thou speak Greek?'" Now, you got to understand, Paul is a shock to these guys in so many ways. But the fact that Paul uses, remember Paul spoke the Mars Hill sermon in Koine Greek. He not only spoke Greek, but he spoke the high-level Koine Greek. And now he says to the Roman in a perfect Greek language, "Can I speak with you?" And this would put a bolt of concern in the Roman. I'll tell you why here in a second. Verse 38, the Roman says, "Art thou not that Egyptian which before these days madest an uproar and led out into the wilderness four thousand men that were murderers?" Now, you're like, "Where did that come from?" Rumor had it, Josephus even writes about this, that there was an Egyptian guy that caused a big uprising in AD 54. He was an Egyptian terrorist. He made a religion, led four thousand people into the wilderness, and then the Romans went and conquered them easily and killed them all. But he said, "Aren't you that guy?" And the idea is, of course, Paul's no. But now, verse 39, now we hear how he answers. Verse 39 says, "Paul said, 'I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city, and I beseech thee suffer me to speak unto the people.'" Paul was given ability to speak a speech. We've already heard this whole story. There's nothing new we're about to learn, but this is Paul telling his own story, and I think it's good to see the context of this. So let's go through the speech really quick here. So it says, verse 40, "When he had given him license, Paul stood on the stairs and beckoned with his hand to all the people, and when there was made a great silence, he spake unto them in the Hebrew tongue, saying," okay, so now Paul goes from his Koine Greek to the Roman, now he's going to speak to the Jews of Jerusalem. Verse 1: "Men, brethren, fathers, hear my defense which I make now to you. And when they had heard that he spake the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more silence, and he saith, 'I am verily a man which am a Jew, born of Tarsus, in the city of Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel and taught according to the perfect manner of the law and of the fathers, and was zealous toward God as ye all are this day. And I persecuted this way,'" that's the church, remember the way, "I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women, as also the high priest doth bear me witness and all the estate of the elders, from whom also I received letters unto the brethren and went to Damascus to bring them which were there bound to Jerusalem for to be punished. And as it came to pass as I made my journey and was about come near to Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me. And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" And I answered, "Who art thou, Lord?" And he said unto me, "I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest." And they that were with me saw indeed the light and were afraid, but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me. And I said, "What shall I do, Lord?" And the Lord said unto me, "Arise and go into Damascus, and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do." And when I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came to Damascus. And one Ananias, a devout man according to all the law, having good report of all the Jews which dwelt there, came to me and stood and said to me, "Brother Saul, receive thy sight." And the same hour I looked upon him. And he said, "The God of our fathers hath chosen thee that thou shouldst know his will and see that just one and shouldst hear the voice of his mouth, for thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard."'" Pause for a second there. Couple things here that I can't pass by, but he persecuted the way. He's saying, "Jews, I was you guys. I was a persecutor of the Christians, but then I had this encounter with Christ." And then he called Jesus the just one. That's something you should note there because the scriptures use this title of Jesus seven times. These are the scriptures if you want to jot them down, but I think that's a noteworthy title of Jesus, the just one or the righteous one, some might put it. Why is this important? It's good to know the titles of Jesus, but also it's good to know that he is just, not only holy but righteous and fair and compassionate. I love the word just as it's applied to Jesus Christ. But how does the rest of Paul's sermon go after this? Well, verse 16: "And now why tarriest thou? Arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. And it came to pass when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance, and I saw him saying unto me, 'Make haste, get thee quickly out of Jerusalem, for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me,' Paul said to them. Verse 19: "And I said, 'Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed on thee. And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by and consenting to his death and kept the raiment of them that slew him.' And he said unto me, 'Depart, for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles.'" Now, this is the last word Paul's going to say. Why? Because he said the word Gentile. And this is the end of his sermon. Why? Verse 22: "And they gave him audience unto this word," the word Gentile, "and then lifted up their voices and away with such a fellow from the earth, for it is not fit that he should live." Do you see what happened here with the Jews? The Jews heard him say, "Yeah, it was all good," until he said, "And the Lord said go and preach to the Gentiles." They're like, "Oh, that's it, we're out. This guy should not be fit for living on the earth." Verse 23: "And as they cried out, they cast off their clothes and threw dust in the air," guys ripping their clothes off, "and the chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle and bade that he should be examined by scourging," just like Jesus. Now, by the way, Paul had been whipped five times already. He's not going to be whipped this time, interestingly enough. But he says, "You're going to be whipped," that he might know wherefore they cried against him. Verse 25: "And they bound him with thongs," that's leather straps. "And Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, 'Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman and uncondemned?'" Now, we've seen this before with Paul. Paul's a man of many talents, also of many shocks. Not only does he speak Greek and he speaks perfect Hebrew, and not only was he a Pharisee of all Pharisees and not only was he this and that, he was also a Roman citizen. You say, "Whatever, who cares?" But you know who cares right about this moment? The guy that just tied him up in the leather straps. And I'll tell you why. If you were a Roman citizen or Roman soldier and you tied up a Roman citizen with leather straps without a trial, you would be put to death before the whole city. So Paul just says nicely, "Do you know you're doing this to a Roman citizen and I haven't really been tried?" And suddenly they're going to change their tune. Check out verse 26: "When the centurion heard that, he went and told the chief captain saying, 'Take heed what thou doest, for this man is a Roman.' Then the chief captain came and said unto him, 'Tell me, art thou a Roman?' And he said, 'Yea.' And the chief captain answered, 'With a great sum obtained I this freedom.' And Paul said, 'But I was freeborn.'" See, the captain said, "I am a Roman citizen, but it cost me money." I'm not going to go into the history of this, but you could buy Roman citizenship, but it was very expensive. So the captain's saying, "Man, I didn't pay for this Roman citizenship to be messed with by somebody like you." But Paul's saying, "I didn't even buy my way in, I was born a Roman citizen." Now, this is really interesting because when Paul says this, what this means is Paul's parents or his grandparents must have been awarded the rights of citizenship for doing something good on behalf of Rome. The only way you can be, from Paul's lineage and be a Roman citizen in that way was to do something that was noteworthy and become a Roman citizen. So F.F. Bruce writes this: "How the citizenship was acquired by Paul's father or grandfather we have no means of knowing, but analogy suggests that it was for some services rendered to a Roman general or administrator." So Paul has quite a lineage, both in the Jewish world and the Roman world. He's kind of a big shot. No wonder he's speaking to all these kings and rulers and leaders. He's at home with high-level leaders. That's who he was.