Introduction
“What is God’s will for my life?”
Have you ever asked that question?
Or have you ever thought about that question?
This is one of the most frequently asked questions by Christians.
If you are a Christian, you want to know God’s will for your life.
You want to do what pleases God.
Bible teachers offer varying perspectives on knowing God’s will for your life.
One Bible teacher suggests that the “Four Councils”—the councils of God’s word, the Holy Spirit, conscience, and others—taken together, often reveal God’s will for your life.
John MacArthur says, “God’s will is that you be saved, Spirit-filled, sanctified, submissive, and suffering” (John MacArthur Jr., Found: God’s Will [Colorado Springs, CO: David C Cook, 2012], 66–67).
St. Augustine taught a straightforward method of discerning God’s will. Rightly understood and rightly applied, he said, “Love God, and do what you want” (R. Kent Hughes, Acts: The Church Afire, Preaching the Word [Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1996], 290).
We have been studying the Book of Acts.
In recent studies, we have been following the ministry of the Apostle Paul.
Paul has undertaken three missionary journeys.
We will examine the final leg of Paul’s third missionary journey today.
The issue of knowing God’s will is front and center in today’s passage.
Paul believes he knows God’s will for his life and that he is obeying it.
Others believe that Paul is mistaken about God’s will for his life.
Who is right?
In today’s lesson, we will learn about some of the aspects involved in obeying God’s will.
Scripture
Let’s read Acts 21:1-16:
1 And when we had parted from them and set sail, we came by a straight course to Cos, and the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara. 2 And having found a ship crossing to Phoenicia, we went aboard and set sail. 3 When we had come in sight of Cyprus, leaving it on the left we sailed to Syria and landed at Tyre, for there the ship was to unload its cargo. 4 And having sought out the disciples, we stayed there for seven days. And through the Spirit they were telling Paul not to go on to Jerusalem. 5 When our days there were ended, we departed and went on our journey, and they all, with wives and children, accompanied us until we were outside the city. And kneeling down on the beach, we prayed 6 and said farewell to one another. Then we went on board the ship, and they returned home.
7 When we had finished the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais, and we greeted the brothers and stayed with them for one day. 8 On the next day we departed and came to Caesarea, and we entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him. 9 He had four unmarried daughters, who prophesied. 10 While we were staying for many days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. 11 And coming to us, he took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘This is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’ ” 12 When we heard this, we and the people there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem. 13 Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” 14 And since he would not be persuaded, we ceased and said, “Let the will of the Lord be done.”
15 After these days we got ready and went up to Jerusalem. 16 And some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us, bringing us to the house of Mnason of Cyprus, an early disciple, with whom we should lodge.
Lesson
Acts 21:1-16 illustrates some of the aspects involved in obeying God’s will.
Let’s use the following outline:
1. Obeying God’s Will Requires Resolute Commitment (21:1-6)
2. Obeying God’s Will Disregards Opposing Voices (21:7-14)
3. Obeying God’s Will Encourages Other Believers (21:15-16)
I. Obeying God’s Will Requires Resolute Commitment (21:1-6)
First, obeying God’s will requires resolute commitment.
Acts 20 closed with Paul in Miletus on his way to Jerusalem.
Paul called for the Ephesian Elders to meet him in Miletus, which they did.
Paul exhorted them to keep serving the Lord.
Finally, Paul’s departure came, and there was much weeping on the part of all.
Luke then tells us in verses 1-4a:
1 And when we had parted from them and set sail, we came by a straight course to Cos, and the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara. 2 And having found a ship crossing to Phoenicia, we went aboard and set sail. 3 When we had come in sight of Cyprus, leaving it on the left we sailed to Syria and landed at Tyre, for there the ship was to unload its cargo. 4 And having sought out the disciples, we stayed there for seven days.
Paul wanted to get to Jerusalem by the day of Pentecost (Acts 20:16).
However, he had to spend seven days in Tyre, either because of the unloading or loading of the ship’s cargo or because he had to wait for a different ship to continue his journey.
Whatever the reason for the delay, Paul was eager to reach Jerusalem.
He wanted to deliver the money to the Jews in Jerusalem that he had collected for them from the Gentiles in Asia and Macedonia.
He also wanted to proclaim the gospel to the visitors who would be in Jerusalem for Pentecost.
At the end of the seven days, Paul and his companions left Tyre.
Once again, Luke told us about an emotional farewell with the believers before he sailed the final leg to Jerusalem.
Before the ship sailed, however, Luke inserted what seemed to be a wrinkle in Paul’s plans.
Shortly after Paul and his companions arrived in Tyre for their seven-day stay, Luke tells us in verse 4b, “And through the Spirit they were telling Paul not to go on to Jerusalem.”
Now, Paul believed that the Holy Spirit had led him to go to Jerusalem.
When Paul was in Ephesus, Luke tells us in Acts 19:21, “Now after these events Paul resolved in the Spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia and go to Jerusalem.”
Later, Paul said to the Ephesian Elders in Acts 20:22–23, “And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me.”
In other words, Paul was convinced that the Holy Spirit was leading him to return to Jerusalem.
Moreover, Paul was aware that the Holy Spirit testified to him that in every city, imprisonment and afflictions awaited him.
Paul knew that he would suffer for Jesus.
The believers in Tyre loved Paul.
They did not want to see him suffer.
They did not harm to come to their beloved Paul.
When they knelt to pray on the beach, one can imagine some of them praying, “Lord, thank you for bringing Paul to us. We love him. He has taught us so much. We don’t want harm to come to him. Please overrule Paul’s wrong decision to go to Jerusalem.”
One commentator says that verse 4b should be interpreted as follows, “But perhaps Luke’s statement is a condensed way of saying that the warning was divine while the urging was human” (John R. W. Stott, The Message of Acts: The Spirit, the Church & the World, The Bible Speaks Today [Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1994], 333).
That is to say, the Holy Spirit was indeed leading Paul to Jerusalem, but their love for Paul was so great that they did not want him to go.
However, Paul had a resolute commitment to obeying God’s will.
On April 14, 1521, Martin Luther was en route to the Diet of Worms.
The emperor had forbidden the sale of all the reformer’s books and ordered them to be seized.
Luther’s life was in great danger.
Luther’s devoted friend and confidant, George Spalatin, had sent word through a special messenger not to come to Worms lest he suffer the same fate as John Hus.
Luther comforted his fearful friends, saying, “Though Hus was burned, the truth was not burned, and Christ still lives.”
Then he sent Spalatin the now-famous message, “I shall go to Worms, though there were as many devils as tiles on the roofs.”
On April 16, Luther entered Worms in a Saxon two-wheeled cart preceded by an imperial herald.
Although it was the dinner hour, 2,000 people were present to observe his entrance.
On the following day at four o’clock Luther stood before “Charles, heir of a long line of Catholic sovereigns—of Maximillian the romantic, of Ferdinand the Catholic, of Isabella the orthodox—scion of the house of Hapsburg, lord of Austria, Burgundy, the Low Countries, Spain, and Naples, Holy Roman Emperor, ruling over a vaster domain than any save Charlemagne, symbol of the medieval unities, incarnation of a glorious if vanishing heritage.”
Most men of God would have been intimidated.
After an exchange between the Archbishop of Trier, Johann Eck, and Martin Luther, the Augustinian monk, overwhelmed by the immensity of what he was doing, Luther requested and received the night for prayer and consideration.
We can be sure Luther prayed that night.
On April 18, a larger hall was chosen, but it was so crowded that scarcely anyone, save the emperor, could sit down.
Finally, came this famous dialogue:
ECK: Martin, how can you assume that you are the only one to understand the sense of Scripture? Would you put your judgment above that of so many famous men and claim that you know more than they all? You have no right to call into question the most holy orthodox faith, instituted by Christ the perfect lawgiver, proclaimed throughout the world by the apostles, sealed by the red blood of the martyrs, confirmed by the sacred councils, defined by the Church in which all our fathers believed until death and gave to us as an inheritance, and which now we are forbidden by the pope and emperor to discuss lest there be no end of debate. I ask you, Martin—answer candidly and without horns—do you or do you not repudiate your books and the errors which they contain?
LUTHER: Since then, Your Majesty and your lordships desire a simple reply, I will answer without horns and without teeth. Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason—I do not accept the authority of popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other—my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. God help me. Amen.
It was the greatest moment in the history of the modern world!
How did Martin Luther come to such heroics—standing alone before the world, risking his life for the sake of God’s truth?
He knew God’s will.
He knew through the examination of God’s word while a monk in Wittenberg and through his subsequent encounter with God in Bologna and on his knees in Pilate’s staircase in Rome that “the just shall live by faith.”
He knew that it was God’s will for him to go to Worms and declare the truth to the world regardless of the consequences.
Furthermore, Martin Luther did God’s will, and this is what set him apart from ordinary men (R. Kent Hughes, Acts: The Church Afire, Preaching the Word Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1996], 283–285).
You, my dear Christian, can be like Martin Luther.
You can be like the Apostle Paul.
Let me encourage you to have a resolute commitment to obeying God’s will.
II. Obeying God’s Will Disregards Opposing Voices (21:7-14)
Second, obeying God’s will disregards opposing voices.
Luke described how Paul and his companions arrived at Caesarea, about 80 miles from Jerusalem.
While in Caesarea, Paul and his companions stayed with Philip the Evangelist, who was also one of the seven chosen as the first deacons.
Luke tells us in verses 10-11:
10 While we were staying for many days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. 11 And coming to us, he took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘This is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’ ”
Paul’s belt was unlikely to be a leather belt.
It would have been too short to bind hands and feet together.
One commentator believes, “It must rather have been a long piece of cloth which was worn as a girdle” (John R. W. Stott, The Message of Acts: The Spirit, the Church & the World, The Bible Speaks Today [Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1994], 331).
Agabus was saying that Paul would be bound and handed over to the Gentiles.
Agabus was saying that in the name of the Holy Spirit.
So, was the Holy Spirit saying one thing to Paul and a different thing to Agabus?
No. That would not be correct. The Holy Spirit does not contradict himself.
Here, in this instance, the Holy Spirit was saying what would happen to Paul when he arrived in Jerusalem.
But Paul already knew that imprisonment and afflictions awaited him.
If anything, Agabus’ prediction was confirmation of what the Holy Spirit had already told Paul about what would happen to him.
In verse 12, Luke said, “When we heard this, we and the people there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem.”
William Carey is often referred to as the "father of modern missions."
When Carey felt called to take the gospel to India in the late 18th century, many well-meaning Christian leaders discouraged him.
At a Baptist ministers' meeting in 1786, he passionately spoke about the need for missions, but one elder reportedly told him, "Young man, sit down. When God pleases to convert the heathen, he will do it without your aid or mine."
Despite this discouragement, Carey disregarded the opposing voices.
He spent years preparing, studying languages, and advocating for missions.
In 1793, he sailed to India, enduring immense hardship—poverty, disease, and personal tragedy.
Yet, his perseverance led to the establishment of schools, Bible translations, and a lasting Christian presence in India.
Two hundred and thirty years after Carey arrived in India, there are almost 90 million professing Christians in that country.
Paul assured the believers in Caesarea that he was not only willing to be imprisoned but also to die for the sake of the name of the Lord Jesus.
Then, Luke notes in verse 14, “And since he would not be persuaded, we ceased and said, ‘Let the will of the Lord be done.’ ”
Disregard opposing voices that try to dissuade you from obeying God’s will.
III. Obeying God’s Will Encourages Other Believers (21:15-16)
Third, obeying God’s will encourages other believers.
Since the believers were unable to persuade Paul to go to Jerusalem, we read in verses 15-16:
15 After these days we got ready and went up to Jerusalem. 16 And some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us, bringing us to the house of Mnason of Cyprus, an early disciple, with whom we should lodge.
The believers knew that Paul would be a marked man in Jerusalem.
He would face imprisonment and affliction.
They knew that identifying with Paul would put themselves at risk.
Yet they were willing to accept that risk because Paul was also willing to do so.
In other words, Paul’s obedience to God’s will encouraged other believers.
John MacArthur tells a remarkable story about a nameless soldier during the Battle of Antietam.
The Battle of Antietam was one of the bloodiest days in American military history.
On that September day in 1862, nearly 6,000 Union and Confederate soldiers were killed and 17,000 others wounded.
To put that in perspective:
The casualties at Antietam numbered four times the total suffered by American soldiers at the Normandy beaches on June 6, 1944. More than twice as many Americans lost their lives in one day at Sharpsburg [Antietam] as fell in combat in the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and the Spanish-American War combined. (James M. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom [New York: Oxford, 1988], 544. Italics in original.)
Some of the fiercest fighting on that awful day took place in a part of the battlefield known as the Cornfield.
Some Union soldiers, their ranks decimated by heavy Confederate fire, fled toward the rear in wild panic—only to be stopped by the contagious courage of one man.
Historian Bruce Catton describes the scene:
The Pennsylvanians broke and ran again—to be stopped, incomprehensibly, a few yards in the rear by a boyish private who stood on a little hillock and kept swinging his hat, shouting: “Rally, boys, rally! Die like men, don’t run like dogs!”
Strangely, on that desperate field where men were madly heroic and full of abject panic by turns, this lone private stopped the retreat. (Mr. Lincoln’s Army [New York: The Fairfax Press, 1984], 162)
John MacArthur concludes, “Like that nameless soldier, Paul had the courage not only to face the enemy himself but also to inspire others to do likewise” (John F. MacArthur Jr., Acts, vol. 2, MacArthur New Testament Commentary [Chicago: Moody Press, 1994], 242–243).
Friends, when you obey God’s will in your life, you encourage other believers.
Conclusion
What is God’s will for your life?
I don’t know the specific will of God for each one of you.
However, I do know that obeying God’s will involves a resolute commitment to it, disregarding opposing voices, and encouraging other believers.
I pray that you will know God’s will for your life. Amen.
