A Visit With Church Leaders Series

Introduction

I am currently preaching through the Book of Acts in a sermon series I am calling “Turning the World Upside Down.”

Forty days after Jesus’ resurrection, he ascended into heaven.

Just before he ascended into heaven, Jesus told his disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they received the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus also said to his disciples in Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Ten days later, on the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Christians in Jerusalem.

They immediately began proclaiming the good news: Jesus was alive! He was the Christ! He was the Mediator God sent to reconcile God and sinners!

Thousands of people were converted to Christ in the weeks and months following Pentecost.

Eventually, Christians began to be persecuted for their newfound faith in Jesus Christ.

So, they scattered to other villages and cities around the Mediterranean basin.

Several years later, Jesus encountered Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus, where Saul was on his way to round up Christians to continue the Jewish persecution of Christians.

However, Saul was soundly converted to Jesus.

He became known as Paul.

Paul became an apostle of Jesus because Jesus sent him, as he said in Acts 9:15, “for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.”

Paul embarked on three missionary journeys over a period of ten years, from approximately 47 AD to 57 AD.

We do know that Luke recorded in Acts 19:10, “All the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.”

On his second missionary journey, Paul was in Thessalonica proclaiming the good news about how Jesus changes lives.

This message so incensed the Jews that they took Paul to the authorities and shouted, in Acts 17:6,“These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also.”

When Paul concluded his third and final missionary journey, he returned to Jerusalem.

Scholars estimate that there were tens of thousands of Christians by this time.

Many of these people had become Christians through the ministry of the Apostle Paul.

Paul went to Jerusalem for two reasons.

First, he wanted to give the money that he had collected from the Gentile Christians to the Jewish Christians who were still in Jerusalem.

Strangely, Luke does not mention this in today’s text, although he does mention it in Acts 24:17.

Second, Paul wanted to give an account to the Christian leaders in Jerusalem of what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.

In today’s lesson, we learn about Paul’s visit with church leaders.

Scripture

Let’s read Acts 21:17-26:

17 When we had come to Jerusalem, the brothers received us gladly. 18 On the following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present. 19 After greeting them, he related one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. 20 And when they heard it, they glorified God. And they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed. They are all zealous for the law, 21 and they have been told about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or walk according to our customs. 22 What then is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. 23 Do therefore what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow; 24 take these men and purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses, so that they may shave their heads. Thus 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. 25 But as for the Gentiles who have believed, we have sent a letter with our judgment that they should abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality.” 26 Then Paul took the men, and the next day he purified himself along with them and went into the temple, giving notice when the days of purification would be fulfilled and the offering presented for each one of them.

Lesson

Acts 21:17-26 shows us how to handle tensions between cultural practices and the gospel’s advance.

Let’s use the following outline:

1. The Joy of Gospel Fruit (21:17-20a)

2. The Challenge of Cultural Misunderstanding (21:20b-22)

3. The Wisdom of Cultural Accommodation (21:23-26)