Read Acts 21:15-26.
LET US PRAY:
Thank you for your written Word. May the truth of your Word inspires us again, to know you and trust you, and to be faithful followers of Christ.
May the life and ministry of Paul be an encouragement for all of us who are serving you today. Bless us with your Word. In Jesus’ Name, AMEN.
Paul arrived in JERUSALEM, finally.
• Despite the warnings from good-hearted disciples, Paul was prepared, “not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” (21:13)
• This is the heart of a servant of God – dying to self and living for Christ.
• As the Holy Spirit has revealed, Paul would face hardships in Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is predominantly Jewish and it is a challenging place because of the various Jewish groups.
• There are (1) the unbelieving Jews who rejected Jesus as Messiah and continued to persecute the Way.
• There are (2) the believing Jews who are zealous of the Law and continued to observe the sacrifices and customs.
• This is fine but among them are some who believed that salvation is only for them and not the Gentiles.
• And we have Jewish believers who are willing to accept the Gentile believers but (3) only if they become Jewish; to be circumcised and abide by their customs.
• We have the church (4) those who understand the Gospel and willing to embrace the Gentile believers.
Now nearing the Feast of the Pentecost, many Jews from the surrounding regions had gathered in Jerusalem.
• This situation was tense. The leaders were concerned that Paul’s arrival in Jerusalem would stir up anger among the traditional Jews who were against him.
• We can tell because, after the initial welcome and Paul’s report of what God has done among the Gentiles, the conversation was quickly taken over by their concern.
21:20-21 "You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law. 21They 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."
• This concern overshadowed even the collection that Paul and his team have brought to the church. Nothing was mentioned about the gift. The urgent has taken over.
The predominantly Jewish community in Jerusalem, who valued their Jewish laws and customs, has been stirred by a rumour.
• “They have been informed”… likely by the Judaisers, the legalistic Jews that came from the province of Asia – Paul mentioned it to governor Felix in the trial in 24:19.
• They accused Paul of turning the Jews away from the Law of Moses, teaching them to abandon the Law, stop the circumcision and quit observing the Jewish traditions.
WHAT PAUL DID NOT TEACH
Paul did not teach the Jews to forsake the Law or change their customs.
• Remember on his second missionary journey, when Paul was at Lystra and wanted Timothy to join him, he had him circumcised, for the sake of the mission.
• Acts 16:3 “Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.”
When he wrote to the Romans (earlier from Corinth), Paul specifically told them not to judge Jewish believers who are still practising their customs.
• Rom 14:1-4 “1Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. 2One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him.”
• Paul himself being a Jew understands the traditions. So he did not teach the Jews to quit being Jewish and drop their customs.
SO WHAT DID PAUL TEACH?
We can gather this from his writings to the Galatians and the Romans. Let me quote you some verses.
Gal 2:15-16 15 We who are Jews by birth and not 'Gentile sinners' 16 know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified
Observing the law and customs cannot save them; salvation is only be found through faith in Jesus Christ.
• Christ is the One who could and had fulfilled the requirements of the Law completely. He died to pay in full the penalty of sin.
• Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone.
Paul is against trusting the Law and the sacrificial system for salvation. And he is against having believed in Christ, going back to trusting the Law again for salvation.
• He is against believing in the “works of the Law” because no one can be justified by observing the Law.
• Hence he was against imposing the “works of the Law” upon the Gentile believers and lay a burden upon them beyond the truth of the Gospel.
He did not say, “Therefore the Law is useless and we can drop it.”
• Paul states the purpose of the Law, to make known our sin and our inability to free ourselves from it apart from Christ.
• Gal 3:23-25 23Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. 24So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. 25Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.
• The Law points us to Christ as our salvation; it “leads us to Christ that we might be justified by faith.” (Gal 3:24) – for everyone, both the Jews and Gentiles.
The Jewish believers can continue to keep the Law and customs BUT with the understanding that these “works of the Law” do not save them.
• They are not the basis of their salvation, which is found only in Christ.
• And therefore they are not the basis of fellowship with Gentile believers.
• The Gentiles do not need to become Jewish to be saved and to be part of the Body of Christ.
Paul tried very hard to get the Jewish church and Gentile church to come together as one church, precisely because he recognises the differences in their customs.
• Paul never taught the Jews to forsake the Law or to see the Law as useless, but to recognise it as pointing them to Christ, the ultimate fulfilment of the Law.
• We are justified by faith in Jesus Christ. Our sin can only be cleansed and forgiven by Christ. You need to believe in Jesus as your Saviour if you have not done so.
Paul did not seek to abolish either tradition, the Jews or the Gentiles. He urged them to live worthy of the Gospel.
• Both have to learn to co-exist with each other despite their differences.
The Jerusalem church wrestled with this issue – the differences in customs - back in Acts 15 at the Jerusalem Council (7 years ago) and issued a statement.
• The letter urges the Gentile believers to observe certain requirements to promote unity between the two groups.
• Which the elders alluded to here, in 21:25 "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 isn’t anti-Law or anti-Jewish; he is “anti-works of the Law” for salvation.
Warren Wiersbe: “The same grace that gave the Gentiles freedom to abstain also gave the Jews freedom to observe.” (The Bible Exposition Commentary, p.490)
• The Jews can keep the Law and practice their traditions while BELIEVING in Christ as their only Saviour and means of salvation.
• History tells us the Jews continued to do so until AD70 when the city Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed by the Romans.
Unfortunately here in Acts 21, Paul’s enemies, coming from the province of Asia, twisted his words and stirred up the believers in Jerusalem and accused him of teaching “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.” (21:21)
SO WHAT SHALL WE DO?
Acts 21:22-24 22What shall we do? They will certainly hear that you have come, 23so do what we tell you. There are four men with us who have made a vow. 24Take 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.
Paul did nothing wrong but to calm the situation, the elders suggested that he join four men in their purification rites (likely on a Nazarite vow) and sponsor their sacrifices.
• In this way, Paul would be seen as FOR the Law and customs, not against it.
This was probably similar to the vow of consecration that Paul has taken earlier in Acts 18:18 while he was in Corinth.
• The Nazarite vow is a consecration rite given in Num 6:13-15
13"Now this is the law for the Nazirite when the period of his separation is over. He is to be brought to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. 14There he is to present his offerings to the LORD: a year-old male lamb without defect for a burnt offering, a year-old ewe lamb without defect for a sin offering, a ram without defect for a fellowship offering, 15together with their grain offerings and drink offerings, and a basket of bread made without yeast - cakes made of fine flour mixed with oil, and wafers spread with oil.
• So they are basically asking Paul to pay something like 4 male lambs, 4 ewe lambs, 4 rams, 4 grain offerings, 4 drink offerings, and 4 baskets of unleavened cakes.
• The idea is If Paul would join them in this and go to such expense to sponsor them, the accusers might be persuaded to see Paul as a good and practising Jew.
Paul agreed. 21:26 “26The 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 them.”
Some commentators felt Paul made a mistake here. It was unnecessary. He should not have done it. It was a compromise. He gave in to pressure.
• We are open to speculations here; it’s a judgment call. No explanation was given.
• But knowing him and all that he has written, Paul would not have compromised on the truth of the Gospel.
• This offering – an animal sacrifice – was not in any way for atonement or forgiveness, but for consecration or thanksgiving.
So why then did Paul do it?
• Under the circumstances, it would seem that he wanted to calm the situation and prevent further divide among the believers.
• I see the heart of a servant of God. Paul was seeking to preserve the UNITY of the church and the MISSION of the church among the Jews.
• He wanted to do something that can promote understanding and not cause division.
FOR THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH because that was his goal in coming to Jerusalem, to hand over the collections from the Gentile churches.
• He has been working among the Gentile churches to take up a collection for the Jewish church over the last two years, based on what he says about it in 1 Cor 16:1-4 and Rom 15:25-27.
• The Gentile representatives from the churches were here with him in Jerusalem.
• He mentioned it also to governor Felix in Acts 24:17 when he was questioned: "After an absence of several years, I came to Jerusalem to bring my people gifts for the poor and to present offerings."
Paul has been working to build the bond between the two churches, the Jewish and Gentile churches, and preserve their unity.
• He did it simply to bring peace. He did it for the church. It might not have worked, but he did it for the church, nonetheless.
FOR THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH
Paul wrote in 1 Cor 9:19-23
19Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 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. 21To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. 22To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. 23I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.
Paul would not do anything that would hinder the Jews or Gentiles from the Gospel.
• He would not want to offend the Jews deliberately or unnecessarily, like violating the Law and customs, that would hinder them from coming to faith in Christ.
• He expressed his deep love for the Jews in Rom 9:2-4 “2I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, 4the people of Israel….”
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Paul did what he did for the sake of the church.
• I believe he has the freedom to do what he wants. Under the circumstances, Paul chose to to lay down his personal right or preference instead.
• He was willing to, in order to accomplish a greater goal – that of preserving the unity and mission of the church, and not cause greater divide.
• Paul was thinking less of defending himself, but more of bridging the gap between his enemies and the Gospel.
Paul wrote later in Phil 2:3-4 “3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
• That’s the heart of Paul, that’s the attitude of Christ.
Did it work? We will know the answer next week.
We see the heart of Paul for the church. We see the heart of a servant of God.
• One who is willing to die for the Name of the Lord Jesus (21:13).
• May the life of Paul be our inspiration today. Culture the same heart, for the cause of Christ.
When visiting a nursing home, I came across these writings on the wall:
People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centred;
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God;
It was never between you and them anyway.
We do our best for Christ. With integrity and sincerity, and leave the rest in the hands of our sovereign God.
• This is the heart of the servant of God! May the will of God be done through us.
PRAYER:
Like Paul, may we be led by your Spirit to do you will, Lord. In all circumstances, whether good or bad, help us stay focus on you and be faithful to you.
Grant us the wisdom we need when we are lost and confused. Give us the strength to do what is good and right, and pleasing in your sight. Give us peace, knowing that you are with us. You will help us in times of our need.
Thank you, Lord. This we pray in Jesus’ Name, AMEN.
