“Bound & Determined”
Acts 21:1-16
July 6, 2008
Two questions as we begin this morning: how do you know you are really trusting God? What do you do when the will of God involves doing something that will really cost you?
I. A Desperate Plea - :1-6
READ VV. 1-3 - This represents the beginning of the final leg of Paul’s journey to Jerusalem; next week, we’ll find him there in the city. The NIV gives a much more colorful description of the parting of Paul from the Ephesian elders: “after we had torn ourselves away”. “Emotional violence” is the term Richard Longenecker uses, and it evinces a sense of real agony at having to leave these friends behind. But leave them Paul did, and made his way by ship toward Jerusalem.
READ VV. 4-6 - Paul had had no previous contact with this group of believers in Tyre, and from the wording here, there was a search that Paul initiated in order to seek out this group. It’s likely that this group of believers came into being as Christians were scattered from Jerusalem when Stephen, the deacon, was martyred, and a widespread persecution broke out (Acts 11:19).
The Scripture records that the one significant interchange between Paul and the believers in Tyre involved them begging him, through the Holy Spirit, not to go to Jerusalem. How could the disciples in Tyre be telling Paul one thing “through the Spirit” when Paul says he was “compelled by the Spirit” to do the opposite (20:22)? Good question! I think that the answer is to be found in the fact that the Holy Spirit made clear to many people, including some of the believers of Tyre, that trouble awaited Paul in Jerusalem; in the very next paragraph, the same thing happens. There is no question about what Paul is going to face when he gets there (and it all proves to be true, of course!). When we care for people, we don’t want to see them come to harm, of course, and that’s just what awaited Paul. And so armed with this knowledge, the natural thing is for the people of Tyre to urge Paul not to go to Jerusalem.
Lloyd Ogilvie warns against a “sloppy sentimentalism” regarding the Lord’s will, the idea that “how could God guide someone into a situation which was bound to cause pain and suffering?” I think that that question is expressed with more frequency in the West, where pain and suffering are abhorred while ease and comfort are exalted, than it is in other places around the world where the general lot of Christians is scorn and persecution. We tend to think, for instance, that a church must be doing the will of God because it is drawing a great crowd of people and experiencing growth; perhaps, though, some churches grow precisely because of an unwillingness to take the hard stands that a church ought to take, to proclaim the whole counsel of God rather than to simply proclaim those parts which are more easily palatable. Every year, we get a recounting of the “100 Fastest-Growing Churches in America”, and the “100 Largest Churches in America”, but the interesting thing is that there seems to be neither rhyme nor reason as to the makeup of those churches. Some of them strongly proclaim the Word of God; others compromise it and tickle people’s ears. Some are theologically on track, while others are way off-track. Point is that it’s just not as simple as the 1-2-3 correlation that some folks would have us make. There are certainly some things we could do to draw a larger crowd, but just because something can be done doesn’t mean it ought to be done. And just because something we do conforms to our common sense concerns doesn’t mean it conforms to God’s will. And just because something we do meets with outward success—or because it doesn’t, at least in the eyes of people—doesn’t mean that it is not God’s will to do it. That’s the “Success Syndrome” of contemporary society talking, not necessarily the Word of God.
II. A Dramatic Display - :7-11
READ VV. 7-11 – Verse 8 speaks of Philip and his daughters. This is not a key point in the narrative; it’s mentioned in sort of a matter-of-fact way, and then Luke moves on. There are a couple of Philips in Scripture; this one is the deacon we see in Acts 6 chosen to take care of the practical needs of the Gentile widows. From the wording there, the likelihood is that these were very young daughters; according to Craig Keener, it likely connotes that these young ladies were virgins under the age of 16. And yet they played a role in forthtelling the truth of God. Now, this is neither enough of a text to build some doctrine on, regarding the roles of women in ministry, nor a text that we ought to skip by as though it does not exist. Why does Luke see fit to include it here? We learn from extra-biblical literature that these daughters were apparently vital sources of information regarding the early years of Christianity. But back to the question: what was Luke’s point in including this in the first place? Some have suggested that it’s to show that people of low status had significant roles in the early church. These four young ladies heard from God and spoke forth the truth of God; perhaps they are mentioned as well because they joined in the chorus of folks who, having heard from the Spirit of God that Paul would suffer hardship in Jerusalem, tried to persuade him not to go.
There were women in the Old Testament who served as prophetesses, such as Miriam, Deborah, and Huldah. At the time of Christ’s birth, there was a prophetess named Anna mentioned in Luke 2. Paul forbids women to speak in the church (I Corinthians 14:34-35), and yet to deny the important role of women in the church is to go to a clearly unscriptural length. Women have served as the lifeblood of many a church; in fact, Red Oak is in a very slim minority in having roughly equal numbers of men and women. May I suggest that where we see clear Scriptural warrant for the priority of male leadership, we follow it wholeheartedly as we do other Scripture, but where we do not, we take a much more open position to ensure that the gifts and talents and calling of our ladies is both respected and utilized for God’s glory and the building of His Kingdom?
Remember what we said was Paul’s motivation to go to Jerusalem? Yes, he believed that the Spirit of God was compelling him to go, despite the hardship he knew awaited him, but practically, it was to deliver the offering collected from the Gentile churches for the relief of the poor Christians in the mother church at Jerusalem, Jewish believers impoverished as a result of persecution directed at them for their faith. Paul felt a keen need to be the one to present the offering; he’d established those Gentile churches, argued for their validity and full acceptance, while at the same time being a Jew himself. He desperately wanted that gift to be a tangible symbol of unity between Gentile and Jewish Christians, flowing from the side of the Gentiles who’d been mistreated, frankly, by Jews for centuries.
We are reintroduced to a man named Agabus here. Agabus had already made a prophecy recorded in Scripture, of the famine that prompted the collection of money for the Jerusalem saints (Acts 11:28-30). Now he uses a familiar form of prophecy; OT prophets would sometimes act out a prediction to drive home the point of it. Agabus took Paul’s linen belt from him, bound his own feet and then hands, and pronounced that this is what would happen to the owner of this belt when he ventured to Jerusalem. Figuratively, Paul was bound by that belt…bound and determined!
And on the basis of this prophecy, people, including for the first time Paul’s traveling companions, plead with him not to go to Jerusalem. Paul’s response? “Don’t go breaking my heart!” There is a human side to the apostle; he feels the love from them, the pangs of hurt as they plead with him not to go. And yet we see
III. A Determined Apostle – :12-14
READ VV. 12-14 - Let’s face it: there are plenty of temptations to give in, to not follow through on the course God has set for us, aren’t there? And some of them come with the best of intentions. Paul was being tempted here, no doubt about it. His weeping friends were having an emotional effect on him; their tears and words of concern were crushing him, breaking his heart, he says. Paul wasn’t Superman, and he wasn’t Jesus; he was a flesh-and-blood guy who struggled with the same feelings we would under those circumstances.
So is Paul being obstinate, ignoring the counsel of his friends foolishly, or is he being focused, determined to obey the Spirit of God regardless of the consequences? Do we blame Paul or admire him? Did he get what he had coming to him, when he got to Jerusalem—because what was predicted did come true, as we’ll see—or did he suffer in well-doing, something that we’ve said can often be the lot of those who truly follow Christ?
Philippians 1:20-24 gives us real insight into the apostle’s heart in the matter of following the call/will of God. “…it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. 24 But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.” Oswald Chambers, in My Utmost for His Highest, wrote, “To choose to suffer means there is something wrong; to choose God’s will even if it means suffering is a very different thing. No healthy saint ever chooses suffering; he chooses God’s will, as Jesus did, whether it means suffering or not.”
How do we know when to listen to wise counsel, and when to forge on despite what others may think? This is a fair question, isn’t it? Does God use wise counsel from others to direct us? Sure! Do our friends always tell us what God would have us do? Surely not! Sometimes friends can be the signpost to the way God has for us, and sometimes they can be the stumblingblock that keeps us from His best for our lives. There is no hard and fast, folks; I hate to disappoint you. Some
Signposts to Wise Decision-Making
• None of us has perfect knowledge.
• The Bible will never steer you wrong.
(II Timothy 3:16,17). There was no New Testament in those days; God supernaturally worked in the book of Acts, of necessity, through means that are less common today, I believe. On my blog, I’ve been in a conversation with some really…interesting…folks, one of whom yesterday pronounced a curse on me, speaking “through the Spirit”, in King James English. Sometimes, I just rolls my eyes…and the one thing I’ve tried to point folks to in that conversation is this: the Word of God gives us the guidance that we need. I won’t get into the debate that folks have over listening to and hearing the voice of God except to say this: we have the sure Word of God. And most all of the guidance you will need in life, particularly as regards holy living before God, is in written form, right here.
• Pray for the Spirit’s wisdom.
James 1:5 tells us to ask God for the wisdom He is so ready to supply. Are you doing that as you face decisions?
• Listen to wise counsel.
“Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed” (Proverbs 15:22) This is good, general advice. Trusted friends and advisors can be of great help to us in our decision-making. The importance of wise counsel is proportional to the magnitude of the situation and the decision. Always listen to wise counsel—but that doesn’t mean we uncritically take any person’s counsel as our direction. Let’s face it: it’s pretty rare that the clear, unmistakable leading of God runs counter to every other Christian’s counsel. Every time I have a real major decision to make, I try to get the counsel of wise individuals who have expertise in the area of that decision. But the counsel of others, as important as it can be, isn’t the be all/end all.
• Common sense?
o Don’t ignore it.
o Don’t sanctify it.
Common sense isn’t necessarily a good guide to use in doing God’s will. Irrationality is no virtue; we should use the faculties God has given us, but that said, sometimes obeying God will not look like the reasonable, rational thing to do. Can I take off on this point for just a moment, using a contemporary example to make my point? An argument I’ve heard used often to defend the idea that “nobody would choose to be homosexual” goes something like this: “who would willingly choose to undergo the difficulties that homosexuals go through in this world?” Now, my point has nothing to do with homosexuality, but rather with the shoddy reasoning that the question betrays. All the time, people make willful decisions that can cause them pain and hardship. Soldiers put themselves in harm’s way, and some die; beyond this, Christians in many countries around the world voluntarily make decisions that cause them all kinds of harm and persecution; some of them pay with their lives for following Christ. “Common sense” might dictate that these folks not become Christians—and yet the will of God is otherwise. So we see that “common sense” isn’t a factor to overlook completely, but it isn’t a reliable guide to the will of God.
So, is there a hard-and-fast, final answer to this question we’ve raised—how do we know when to listen to wise counsel, and when to forge on regardless of advice from well-meaning others?
• Ultimately, we answer to God.
And let me quickly add: we answer to a gracious God. When you have time, read Romans 14:1-4, where Paul suggests that we shouldn’t spend so much time judging others, the decisions that they make, but rather understand that they answer to God.
And can I say one other thing? There’s a difference between a dumb decision and a morally-wrong one. Often, we don’t have clear, specific guidance from God in the arena of a non-moral decision, and yet I fear there are some people who feel like they’ve failed God if some decision they make doesn’t work. Remember the difference between dumb decisions and wrong ones, and remember: God is a God of grace in all our decisions!
We hear an echo of Jesus, don’t we, when we hear the people say, in verse 14 along with Paul, “let the will of God be done”.
IV. A Deliberate Journey - :15-16
READ VV. 15-16 - And so, with determination to be radically obedient to the Spirit of God in the face of friends’ concerns to the contrary, the apostle sets off on the journey by land that will land him in Jerusalem in just a few short days.
We began this morning with a couple questions.
1. How do you know you are really trusting God? When you move forward in His will, even though others seek to dissuade you. When you move forward, knowing it will likely cost you something significant. When you move forward, entrusting yourself to Him because you don’t know the outcome. Faith manifests its reality in obedience.
2. What do you do when the will of God involves doing something that will really cost you? We see the answer in the life of the apostle. Paul was a man bound and determined to follow Christ at all costs, and we understand that when he says, “I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” Are you bound and determined to do the will of God in your life, come what may?
Table Talk
Have you ever found yourself in a situation similar to Paul’s, where someone counseled you to do one thing, but you believed God was leading otherwise? How did it turn out? Is there anything you’d do differently if you had it to do over?
