(The open illustration was taken from Sermon Centrals Illustrations database)
Tony Campolo tells about the time he was asked to speak at a Pentecostal college. Before the service, eight men had him kneel so they could place their hands on his head and pray. Tony was glad to have the prayer, but each of them prayed a long time, and the longer they prayed the more they pushed on Tony’s head. And then they even seemed to wander in their prayers. One of the men didn’t even pray for Tony, he prayed for some guy he was concerned about. He began to pray and said, “Dear Lord, you know Charlie Stoltzfus. He lives in that silver trailer down the road a mile. You know the trailer, Lord, just down the road on the right-hand side.” Tony wanted to interrupt and tell him that God already knew where they guy lived and didn’t need directions, but he just knelt there trying to keep his head upright. The prayer went on: “Lord, Charlie told me this morning he’s going to leave his wife and three kids. Step in and do something, God. Bring that family back together.”
With that, the prayer time ended and Tony went on to preach at the college chapel. Things went well and he got in his car and began to drive home. As he drove onto the Pennsylvania Turnpike, he saw a hitchhiker and felt compelled to pick him up. No one can tell a story better than Tony Campolo, so I’ll let him take it from here: “We drove a few minutes and I said: ‘Hi, my name’s Tony Campolo. What’s yours?’ He said, ‘My name is Charlie Stoltzfus.’ I couldn’t believe it I got off the turnpike at the next exit and headed back. He got a bit uneasy with that and after a few minutes he said, ‘Hey mister, where are you taking me?’ I said, ‘I’m taking you home.’ He narrowed his eyes and asked, ‘Why?’ I said, ‘Because you just left your wife and three kids, right?’ That blew him away. ‘Yeah Yeah, that’s right.’ With shock written all over his face, he plastered himself against the car door and never took his eyes off me. Then I really did him in as I drove right to his silver trailer. When I pulled up, his eyes seemed to bulge as he asked, ‘How did you know that I lived here?’ I said ‘God told me.’ (I believe God did tell me.) When he opened the trailer door his wife exclaimed, ‘You’re back You’re back ’ He whispered in her ear and the more he talked, the bigger her eyes got. I said with real authority, ‘The two of you sit down. I’m going to talk and you two are going to listen ’ Man, did they listen . . . That afternoon I led those two young people to Jesus Christ.”
Think about how most of us probably would have responded both to the prayer and to the opportunity that followed. I mean when we pray in public or in a group most of us are looking for something a little briefer than what happened in this story. If we want to pray for something specifically that doesn’t apply to the given service we’re supposed to be praying for we’re supposed to announce it first, it’s called a prayer request. How about the idea of picking up a hitchhiker, hello stranger danger. I mean we’re just not supposed to do that. But when we set aside the things that we are supposed to do and do the things that we are led to do great things can happen. The Spirit of God comes into our lives and move in us and we become unstoppable.
That is what we see all through the life and writing of Paul, there were difficulties and obstacles. Satan and this world threw everything they could at Paul and all that happened was he kept going. In fact because of what he overcame his testimony and story have even more power. No one can say that Paul only preached because of what he could get, because it was a life of difficulty and struggle, and yet he kept going because his focus was on the finish line. We saw it last week in his farewell speech to the church in Ephesus, he taught the whole gospel of Christ, he did was willing to leave a relatively comfortable place to go to a place of danger and arrest because his focus was on the finish line. Like and athlete running a race he worked hard to fulfill the task that God had given him, to tell people about Jesus, knowing that in the end he would be in Heaven with God.
Acts 21:10-25, “After we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. Coming over to us, he took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles. When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, ‘Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.’ When he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, ‘The Lord’s will be done.’ After this, we got ready and went up to Jerusalem. Some of the disciples from Caesarea accompanied us and brought us to the home of Mnason, where we were to stay. He was a man from Cyprus and one of the early disciples. When we arrived at Jerusalem, the brothers received us warmly. The next day Paul and the rest of us went to see James, and all the elders were present. Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. When they heard this, they praised God. Then they said to Paul: ‘You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law. They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs. What shall we don? They will certainly hear that you have come, so do what we tell you. There are four men with us who have made a vow. Take these men, join in their purification rites and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads shaved. Then everybody will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law. As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality.”
So Paul tells the church in goodbye and despite the warning that he has already received he sets out for Jerusalem. He makes a few stops along the way. We pick the story up with his stop in Caesarea, Paul is staying in the house of Philip the evangelist. This is the same Philip who was a deacon and baptized an Ethiopian in Acts chapter 8. While he is there God sends him another warning. Look at verse 10, “After we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. Coming over to us, he took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, ‘The Holy Spirit says, ‘In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.” The warning that Paul received was unmistakable. The journey that God had Paul on was going to end in his death, but God was warning him every step of the way. Paul couldn’t miss the warning that was given here, it came from a man who was already recognized as a prophet, it was both visual and verbal. There was just no missing is. god was letting Paul know what was coming, not so that he could avoid it, God was the one compelling him to do it, but so that he could be prepared for it. When God gives us a task He will prepare us for the task. That is what we are seeing here in the life of Paul.
I love reading the reaction of the church though. So many people would say that theologically their response was wrong, that they should have responded with faith. But here again we see the people in the church respond with concern for Paul’s safety. Verse 12, “When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem.” I don’t think that the issue here was one of faith, the issue is love. As a church we are supposed to care for each other and love each other first. We see that in this verse, it’s not just the people in Caesarea who are concerned about Paul, notice that in a moment of honest Luke writes that “we and the people there pleaded with Paul.” We included Luke and it was Paul’s traveling companions, the reality of what was about to happen was starting to hit home and they were all concerned for him. We are supposed to be concerned for one another and they demonstrated that.
But notice what Paul does, verse 13, “Then Paul answered, ‘Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.’ When we would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, ‘The Lord’s will be done.’ This is a picture of Christian Leadership. God had clearly communicated His will to Paul and even though it was a road we would all prefer to avoid Paul was willing to walk it. But more then that Paul led them is seeking God’s will. That’s how the church works, we are a group of people together on a journey with God to serve Him and grow to be more like Him. Sometimes the road will be difficult, but we are to follow His will. So despite the dangers ahead, despite the fact that the church didn’t want Paul to go, He follows what God tells him to do.
He leaves Caesarea and we read in verse 17, “When we arrived in Jerusalem, the brothers received warmly.” We see it here again just like we did in Ephesus, the church showed affection for each other. In fact the affection that they had for one another was obvious and genuine. But not only are we supposed to love each other and be a family, but if we’re going to make it through though times, we have to be nice to each other. The church is the place that we can come and pray for each other. It is the place where we can come when we just need a hug. It’s interesting but in our society it’s almost become a cliché the number of times that we say to each other, “how are you doing.” And don’t even wait for an answer because we’re expecting the other person to say, “fine or good” and then move on. But have you noticed that there are a number of times that you either ask the question or are asked the question and the answer goes beyond one word. That is what the church should be like. Listen the majority of the time that question only needs a one word answer but sometimes we all need to go beyond the simple “I’m fine and you?” Because we’re not fine, we’re not okay. And the church needs to be a place where people can do that and I’m glad to be a part of a church that does it. A place where we care for each other May we never lose that concern for the people that we’ve known for years, but may we also always extend it to the people around us and to the people who are new to our family.
Here we see the church loving each other first and then the next thing is that Paul reported what God had done. It’s the next day and Paul is meeting with James and the elders of the church in Jerusalem, verse 18 says, “The next day Paul and the rest of us went to see James, and all the elders were present. Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.” This is such an important thing for us to understand as a church, it belongs to God and the good things that happen are because of God.
But we have to understand that this is a two edged sword. The first edge I think is pretty obvious. When things are going well we need to understand that it is because of God, yes He moves through pastors and His people, but it is the Spirit of God at work. Paul told them what God had done through Him and they rejoiced. We need to always remember who is in charge and give God the glory.
But there is a second side to this sword, we need to recognize what God has done and is doing. If we don’t acknowledge the good things that happen then we are stealing credit not from people but from God. When good things happen and we don’t acknowledge it we are ignoring what God has done. That is also a mistake. For a church to be successful we need to acknowledge what God has done and then give Him the credit for it and that is how Paul’s visit to Jerusalem started.
But there were also problems in the city, there was a reason that God gave Paul the warnings He did, and there was a reason for what was about to happen to him. You see there was tension in the city and the church. There were already problems in place when Paul arrived, and he became the target of some of the people involved despite the actions that he was going to take. Let’s look at just a few of the things that were going on in the city before Paul got there.
First there was conflict between, Jews, Gentiles and Christians. There had always been conflict between the Jews and the Gentiles. The Jews felt that because they were God’s chosen people that they were superior to those around them. The Gentiles resented this, and there was the special case of the Romans who felt that they were superior because they were after all ruling over the Jews. Added to this in the last 20 something years had been the growth of Christianity which was a rival to the beliefs of the Romans, with their pagan gods, and the Jews with their rejection of Christ as the Messiah and loyalty to the law that Christ had fulfilled. These three groups were already in conflict before Paul arrives.
Worse the Roman governor who was responsible for moderating all of these groups and helping them all work and live together was new, his name was Felix. They thought so much of him that an manuscript from the day says that he had “the instincts of a slave.” That’s not exactly a ringing endorsement. His term would only last 8 years and he didn’t exactly leave behind a climate of rest.
In fact it’s important to note that the timing of these events is around 57 A.D. That date may ring a bell with many of you because it is only 13 years before 70 A.D. that was the year that a Roman Army under the command of Titus conquered Jerusalem and much of the old city was burned including the temple. The Jewish rebellion against Rome that led to the siege and destruction of Jerusalem began in 66 A.D. In other words less then 10 years after Paul comes to Jerusalem, the tensions that we in the city, mostly between Jews and Gentiles, led to the unthinkable, a rebellion against the most powerful empire in the world. This was a city where tensions ran deep and Paul arrives and steps right into the middle of it just because of who he is, he is perhaps the best know Christian evangelist in Asia. He has not only preached the gospel in Israel but he dared to preach in Macedonia, in other words, he’s managed to offend both groups that were opposing each other in Jerusalem. They didn’t like each other, they didn’t agree on much, but the agreed that they didn’t like Paul.
Everything has started well, they’ve greeted each other and given God praise for what he has done. But then the next day, James and the elders of the church begin to warn Paul of the things he needs to know, verse 20 reads, “When they heard this, they praised God. then they said to Paul: ‘You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law. They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs. What shall we do? They will certainly hear that you have come.’” There were accusations being made about Paul, there were rumors and innuendo. People who didn’t know Paul, who hadn’t heard him speak, or who hadn’t talked with him were making accusations about him. This is a stacked deck. Paul shows up in the city and there were already accusations being made about him that were false.
Paul wasn’t preaching that the Jews should not circumcise their children or turn their back on the law, he was simply saying that because Christ had come and fulfilled the law that it was no longer necessary for salvation. Going further this teaching was aimed at the Gentiles, he was teaching that the church should not require the Gentiles to be circumcised in order to come into the church. In fact listen to what Paul was able to write to the church in Corinth, 1 Corinthians 9:20, “To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.” Paul is able to say, even after his arrest, that the basis of these accusations is false.
But there was a problem because, the bite of these accusations was that they contained a small mount of truth. It was true that Paul was teaching that salvation was now by grace and not by keeping the law. So even though he was not teach Jews not to keep the law, even though he himself not only didn’t stop them from keeping the law, but according to his testimony to Corinth, he was even willing to keep the law himself if that’s what it took for people to hear the message, there was a ring of truth to the accusations and so people were willing to believe it. And then in the way that only we humans can do, they were able to take a hint of truth and create a truth in their own minds that was far different then reality and find justification for believing it. That’s the way of lies, the most effective lies are those that contain just a little truth, just enough to support part of the lie to give credibility to the rest of it.
So Paul arrives, he’s totally dedicated to the cause of Christ, and he faces a stacked deck, but James and the elders have a plan for him. They tell it to him in verse 23, “So do what we tell you. There are four men with us who have made a vow. Take these men, join in their purification rites and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads shaved. Then everybody will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law.” So they tell him look in order to dispel these rumors and expose the lies you need to go beyond keeping the law yourself, take these four men, they would have been gentile believers who had made some type of vow and needed to go to the temple, join with them and more than that pay their expenses so that everyone can see you not only keeping the law, but also that you are leading people in doing the same thing. Paul if you do this then the people who are lying about you will stop telling them.
It was a lot to ask but Paul was willing to work for peace, he would not let false accusations stop him. He knew the truth, but he also knew that if he could give people something else to talk about maybe then they would hear the gospel, so he does what he can to bring peace. Verse 26 says, The next day Paul took the men and purified himself along with them. Then he went to the temple to give notice of the date when the days of purification would end and the offering would be made for each of the.” This is the attitude that we see all through Paul’s life. Listen to the rest of that passage to the church in Corinth, 1 Corinthians 9:22-23, “I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.” Paul was willing to do whatever it took to share the gospel, even if it wouldn’t work. Here’s a sneak peak for when we continue through Acts this spring, it didn’t work. He did everything he could and they still told the same lies about him. He was willing to do everything he could to share the gospel and prove the truth, but for some people it’s never enough. But even their lies still didn’t stop him, sure they arrested him, but you’ll remember that he had said that his ultimate destination was Rome, now the Roman empire would pay for the trip and give him an armed escort. Noting could stop Paul.
We’ve seen it all through these chapters Paul was unstoppable, he didn’t let physical persecution stop him. We’ve seen him, beaten, it doesn’t stop him, stoned, it doesn’t stop him, imprisoned, it doesn’t stop him. Now they’re lying about him and it doesn’t stop him. he was unstoppable. That is the theme of the entire early church, these people were stoned, beaten, crucified, imprisoned, driven out of their homes, the list goes on and on, and yet they just go on preaching the gospel they were so unstoppable.
It should be so inspiring and yet here’s my problem, so many times as I look at the church in America we are so stoppable. Let me ask you this question, are there things that stop you? I’m talking about the things that when we think about it these people would have thought they were so trivial. People might not like us, they might say bad things about us. I might think less of us. We are so stoppable. Can you imagine sitting with Paul and telling him how hard it was to witness for Christ and he asks us to show him the scars and we say they were emotional? We’re just so stoppable compared to them. Or we worry about other things, I didn’t like the music, I didn’t like the sermon or the Sunday school lesson, the person next to me couldn’t find a key let alone sing in one so I couldn’t worship so I just wasn’t able to serve God like I should. We let so many things stop us. Do we have what these people had? They had a burning desire to see people come into the kingdom and know God. That was Paul’s focus, it wasn’t just that he knew that Heaven awaited him, but that he knew that everyone else could be there too and that the alternative was real bad. Listen to those words again. “I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.”
That’s our driving mission as a church we want to share the blessings of the gospel with you. If you’re here and you’ve never accepted Christ we want you to know Him. Not so that we can have someone else that we can say believe like us, but because we know first hand that the greatest thing in life is to know God. It’s not just about knowing where you’re going when you die, but being with Him everyday and Him working not only to make your life better, but to make you into the best person that you c an be, the person you were made to be. And all that takes is to ask Him to become a part of your life. If you’ve never done that before will you do it today?
