Turn with me to Acts chapter 21.
We are starting at verse 17 in this chapter.
It's page 930, if you're looking in a pew Bible.
It's a hot morning.
If you're on the sides and not getting any breeze,
there's still space in the front three rows.
So feel free to move if you desire.
Acts chapter 21, starting at verse 17.
Starting at verse 17.
When we had come to Jerusalem, the brothers received us gladly.
On the following day, Paul went in with us to James,
and all the elders were present.
After greeting them, he related one by one
the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.
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.
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.
What then is to be done?
They will certainly hear that you have come.
Do therefore what we tell you.
We have four men who are under a vow.
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.
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.
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.
When the seven days were almost completed,
the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple,
stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him,
crying out,
Men of Israel, help!
This is the man who is teaching everywhere,
everyone everywhere,
against the people and the law and this place.
Moreover, he even brought Greeks into the temple
and has defiled this holy place.
For they had previously seen Trophimus, the Ephesian,
with him in the city,
and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple.
Then all the city was stirred up,
and the people ran together.
They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple,
and at once the gates were shut.
And as they were seeking to kill him,
word came to the tribune of the cohort
that all Jerusalem was in confusion.
He at once took soldiers and centurions
and ran down to them.
And when they saw the tribune and the soldiers,
they stopped beating Paul.
Then the tribune came up and arrested him
and ordered him to be bound with two chains.
He inquired who he was and what he had done.
Some in the crowd were shouting one thing,
some another.
And as he could not learn the facts because of the uproar,
he ordered him to be brought into the barracks.
And when he came to the steps,
he was actually carried by the soldiers
because of the violence of the crowd
for the mob of the people followed,
crying out,
away with him.
Recently, my wife and I,
on some nights when we're home
after the kids have gone to bed,
we've been watching a documentary series
about John Adams and the American Revolution.
It's been a fascinating reminder
some of our,
this country's founding history.
And one of the striking aspects
of John Adams in particular
is how he often found himself
in between two opposing sides.
On the one side,
there were the British loyalists
who objected to some of King George's policies
but were ultimately never going to break away
from the King of England.
On the other side,
there were the patriots
who occasionally broke out
in rowdy and even violent demonstrations.
One winter night,
some patriots formed a mob
around a group of British soldiers
standing guard in Boston.
They began shouting threats
and throwing snowballs,
stones, and sticks.
Finally, one of the British soldiers
fired shots into the crowd
and five men were killed.
Adams, a trained lawyer,
defended the British soldiers in court.
Successfully.
But later on,
as a delegate from Massachusetts
to the Constitutional Convention,
Adams played a leading role
in the independence movement,
persuading Congress
to make a decisive declaration
of independence from Great Britain,
writing much of that declaration
and nominating George Washington
to lead the American army.
The same pattern continued later
when he became president.
Adams was strongly opposed
on one side by the Republicans,
led by Thomas Jefferson,
and on the other side
by members of his own party,
the Federalists,
led by Alexander Hamilton.
Now, I wonder if you've ever
found yourself
in the midst of a complicated conflict
between two groups of people
who have a long history
of mistrust and misunderstanding.
Now, maybe it's on a personal level.
Maybe you've tried to come alongside
two friends who've had a falling out,
encouraging them to talk
to each other again
and begin to work out their differences.
And maybe that process
has been harder
than you expected it would be.
And it's exposed deeper levels
of mistrust and misunderstanding
and historical stuff
that you didn't even realize was there.
Or maybe you find yourself
in between two rival groups,
maybe at work
or in an organization
that you're involved in.
And these two groups
strongly disagree with one another
or compete with one another.
And maybe you agree
with one group more than the other,
but you see some validity
in what both of these groups are.
You recognize some good ideas
in both groups.
And so you maintain
some connections to both.
You don't simply take one side
or take the other.
And yet, people in both groups
distrust you
because if you're with them,
then you shouldn't be with them.
And if you're with us,
then you shouldn't be with them.
Well, this is the situation
in which the Apostle Paul
found himself in this chapter.
Now, so far,
there have been 21 chapters
of the book of Acts
which have covered
approximately 25 years
from A.D. 33,
the day of Pentecost,
to A.D. 57
when Paul arrives here
in Jerusalem.
But the next three chapters,
chapter 21,
the middle of 21
through the middle of 24,
cover a period
of only 12 days.
And so Luke wants to highlight
these events that happened
in Jerusalem
during this period
of less than two weeks
as extremely important
for the message
he's seeking to convey.
And what we see today
is that in the midst
of a complicated
and politically charged situation,
fraught with misunderstanding
and mistrust,
Paul sought to faithfully live out
the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And as we look into this chapter,
I think we'll gain some insights
into what it looks like
to follow Jesus
and be faithful to him
in the midst of conflicts,
in the midst of situations
or relationships
that are fraught.
So this morning,
we want to look at three things.
First, the complicated situation
that Paul found himself in.
Second, a careful response
from Paul
and the Jerusalem elders.
And third, the result.
So first,
the complicated situation
Paul found himself in.
Now, this is a little complicated,
but let's dig in.
Now, remember,
a little background.
Paul was a Jewish man by birth.
He had been circumcised
on the eighth day,
brought up in Jerusalem,
trained under the well-respected
Rabbi Gamaliel,
well-versed in the Hebrew Scriptures,
observant of the traditions
of his people.
And then,
Jesus Christ
had called him
to become an apostle
to the Gentiles
and to proclaim
that Jesus was
not only the Messiah
for Israel,
but also
the true Savior
and Lord
for the whole world.
And so Paul considered
it his mission
to carry
the good news of Jesus
crucified and risen
throughout all the nations,
in particular
throughout the Roman Empire.
His next goal
was to get to Rome
and then on to Spain,
sort of as far west
as he could see.
on the edge
which would have been
thought of as the ends
of the earth.
And when Paul went
to the Gentiles,
calling people to follow
the God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob,
the father of Jesus Christ,
he didn't say,
you have to become
exactly like
the Jews have been
for hundreds of years.
You have to obey
all the Old Testament laws
and everything that Moses taught,
all the ceremonies.
No.
He said,
through Jesus Christ,
you can be made
right with God
and you can be included
in God's people
simply by trusting
and believing in him.
So Paul was
from a Jewish background
but he became
the apostle to the Gentiles
but still,
as the apostle to the Gentiles,
he was still,
he still loved
his own people,
the Jews.
And so in every Gentile city
where he went,
his first stop would be
the Jewish synagogue
and he would go there
and he would proclaim
and he would say,
this Jesus
that I'm proclaiming to you,
he's not a Gentile God,
he's not another pagan God,
he's the Jewish Messiah.
He's the fulfillment
of the Hebrew scriptures,
what God had promised
to our people long ago.
And so he would always
go to them first
and proclaim his message.
And here,
he also was showing
his love for his
Jewish brothers and sisters
at a time when they were,
when many of the Jewish
people in Jerusalem,
the Jewish Christians
in Jerusalem
were financially struggling.
And so as we've seen,
he collected an offering,
a large financial gift
from several
of the Gentile churches
and went on this long journey
all the way to Jerusalem
with representatives
from several
of the Gentile churches
to bring this gift.
It was a gift of grace,
a gift of generosity,
and a gift of peace,
expressing the unity
of Jews and Gentiles
in the body of Christ.
So that's just the background.
Paul's a Jewish man
by birth.
He was called to be
the apostle to the Gentiles
and yet he still had a heart
and a love for his own people.
So he was between,
he was loyal to both.
Now, when Paul first arrived
in Jerusalem,
everything seems pretty good.
Verse 17,
the brothers and sisters
received us gladly.
Verse 18,
on the following day,
Paul went in with us.
Us would be the whole
sort of delegation,
traveling along with Paul
to James,
who was sort of
the most prominent leader
of the Jerusalem church
at the time
and all the elders.
So this was sort of
the leadership council
of the Jerusalem church.
Now, at first,
they seem a bit cooler
in their reception
toward Paul.
Verse 19 says,
Paul greeted them.
It doesn't say
they greeted him.
But at least they listened
to what Paul had to say.
Verse 20,
they listened to Paul's report
of what God had done
among the Gentiles
and they glorified God.
And that's the same way,
if you remember,
back in chapter 11,
when Peter came
and reported
what God had done
in bringing Cornelius
and his family,
the first sort of,
the first large-scale
Gentile conversion,
people coming to faith
in Jesus.
And Peter went back
to the church in Jerusalem
and said,
look at what God has done
among the Gentiles
and it says they glorified God.
And they recognized
what God was doing
among the nations.
So the Jerusalem elders
were supportive
of Paul's work
among the Gentiles.
Verse 25,
they also explicitly reaffirmed
the decision
of the Jerusalem council.
Now this is back
in Acts 15.
And basically what had been
discussed at that council
is what,
should Gentiles
who come to believe
in Jesus,
do they need to be required
to fulfill the Old Testament law,
just like the Jews?
And the answer was,
no.
Paul, James,
the Jerusalem elders
all agreed
that Gentiles
are reconciled to God
by grace,
through faith,
in Jesus Christ
on the same basis
as Jews
and not by circumcision,
not by the other works
of the law.
And so the Jerusalem council
had given a directive
to Gentiles,
which they're quoting here,
that they should basically
abstain from idolatry
and sexual immorality
and perhaps from
some of the cultural practices
that would have been
most offensive
to their Jewish brothers
and sisters.
That's probably what blood
and eating blood
and eating the meat
of strangled animals,
those things would have been
sort of most obviously offensive
if Gentile Christians
were doing that
alongside Jewish people
who had come to believe
in Jesus,
who were part of the church
with them.
So,
so at first,
it seems great,
right?
Paul comes to Jerusalem,
here's what God's doing
in the rest of the world.
Yeah, wonderful.
Verse 20,
the Jerusalem elders say,
here's what God's doing here.
You know,
while you've been traveling
around the empire,
God's still been at work here.
Thousands of Jews
have come to believe
in Jesus here in Jerusalem
and Paul would have
praised God for that too.
But then,
it gets complicated.
You see,
this wasn't just a happy reunion
of long separated friends.
There was lots of tension
in the background.
Now,
for one thing,
the political situation
in Jerusalem
was extremely volatile.
Tensions were rising
between the native Jews
who had a longing
for independence
and the Romans,
the imperial overlords,
who were increasingly oppressive.
The Jews were a minority group
struggling to maintain
their identity,
cultural and religious
in the midst of a pagan,
powerful empire.
Jews lived throughout the empire,
but Jerusalem was the center
of Jewish nationalist sentiments.
And so periodically,
around this time,
Jewish men would initiate
violent uprisings
and then they would be
severely repressed
by the Roman authorities.
So just three years
before Paul arrived,
there was an Egyptian Jew
who led 4,000 followers
into the desert.
He was sort of acting
like Moses all over again.
And he organized his followers
to march into Jerusalem
and he said,
God's going to do
what he did with Jericho.
The walls are going to fall down
and we're going to march in
and I'm going to rule,
I'm going to be the king
in Jerusalem.
And the Roman governor
killed 400 of his men,
captured 200 others.
Somehow the Egyptian escaped.
This led to a general Jewish rebellion,
looting and burning
the homes of Romans
and Roman sympathizers.
Luke refers to this event
in verse 38,
so does the Jewish historian Josephus.
It was also dangerous
if you were a Jew in Jerusalem
who had any loyalty
to the Romans.
There were these men
who were called the assassins
and they carried daggers
in their cloaks.
And they would even sometimes
murder Jewish aristocrats
who were suspected
of collaborating with the Romans
in the temple,
in the temple precinct itself.
And they'd get away with it.
So when Paul,
the apostle to the Gentiles,
arrives in Jerusalem
with a whole bunch of Gentiles
from all over the empire
coming with him,
the immediate response
of many people
was not gratitude and joy,
but rather suspicion
and hostility.
Now particularly,
this would have been a case
among Jews
who were,
as verse 20 says,
zealous for the law.
Now that's a phrase
that should catch our attention.
Some Jews called themselves
simply zealots.
They were sort of
the political revolutionaries
who were leading violent uprisings.
Other Jews,
especially Pharisees,
called themselves
zealous for the law,
which meant they might not
have advocated immediate
violent revolution,
but they were committed
to carefully upholding the law
and carefully preserving
their distinctive Jewish identity,
trying to carve out a place
where they could be themselves
in the midst of this larger world
that wanted everyone
to just sort of be part
of the big empire
and be part of the melting pot
and lose their identity.
And so they were
very concerned
about carefully observing
the law
and carefully keeping
their traditions
and carefully handing down
their Jewish identity
from one generation
to another,
and they were hostile
toward anyone
who claimed to be a Jew
but didn't actually
keep the law.
Now before his conversion
to faith in Jesus,
Paul described himself
in the same terms.
Philippians 3,
he says,
as to the law,
a Pharisee,
as to zeal,
a persecutor of the church.
Paul was hostile
toward Jewish followers
of Jesus
because he believed
that they were corrupting
the Jewish people
and leading the nation astray.
Now,
so that was Paul
before he came
to faith in Jesus.
Now,
some of these Jews
in Jerusalem
had been very zealous
for the Old Testament law
and for their traditions
and they came to faith
in Jesus as the Messiah.
They believed
that he was the fulfillment
of God's promises to Israel
but they didn't
immediately abandon
all of their cultural traditions
and they didn't go
from being staunch defenders
of an independent Jewish state
to being staunch supporters
of the pagan Roman Empire.
I mean,
you know,
what exactly would have been
the Christian political view
back then?
Do you support
a Jewish independent state?
Well,
some people are doing,
are leading violent revolutions
or do you support
a pagan Roman Empire?
Well,
it's complicated.
You know,
as a side point,
this is one illustration
of why it's important
that Christianity
not be rigidly identified
with only one ethnic group
or one set of cultural traditions
or one political party
or one nation.
Now,
obviously,
being a follower of Jesus
should shape
all those things,
should reshape
our ethnic identity,
our political views,
our cultural traditions,
and on some issues,
the implications of that
are more clear,
but in other areas,
it's complicated
and it often takes time
to discern
what it means
to faithfully live out
the gospel of Jesus
in different situations.
So,
the Jewish Christians
in Jerusalem,
by and large,
continue to be zealous
for the law,
zealous for their traditions,
cultural and religious traditions.
They would observe the Sabbath,
they'd observe Passover,
keep kosher,
circumcise their sons,
and they would recognize
as believers in Jesus
that the deepest meaning
of these rituals
was found in the Messiah Jesus,
but they held pretty tightly
to the traditions
they had inherited
all the way back from Moses.
Now,
not only that,
second problem,
they were also,
or here's a problem,
they were also misinformed
about Paul,
verse 21.
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 walking according
to our customs.
Now,
that word forsake
is a very strong word.
It's the Greek word
from which we get
the English word apostasy.
It meant political
and or spiritual rebellion
and sort of desertion
of the Lord
and his people.
So,
here's the problem.
Thousands of followers
of Jesus,
especially new believers
in Jesus,
who are zealous
for the Jewish law
in Jerusalem
and they've heard
that Paul,
the apostle to the Gentiles,
is telling all Jews
everywhere,
forsake the law,
forsake your traditions,
forsake your people.
And so,
Paul comes to Jerusalem
with all these Gentiles
wanting to deliver
this gift
to promote peace
and unity in the church.
You know,
you might wonder,
why didn't,
why doesn't Luke
actually tell us
about this gift
right here?
Paul would have
delivered it.
I think the reason is
he didn't highlight
the gift
because it didn't have
that effect
that Paul had hoped for.
Right?
These Jewish believers
zealous for the law,
here's that Paul's coming
and Paul had supposedly
taught all the Jews
ever to forsake the law
and he brought
all this money
to the Jerusalem elders.
Their response
most likely would have been,
is he trying to bribe them?
Is he trying to pay us off
to forsake Moses?
Is he a secret agent
of the Roman Empire
trying to destroy our nation?
This was the complicated situation
Paul found himself in.
Fraught with mistrust
and misunderstanding
and all kinds of
historical baggage.
Now, second,
Paul and the Jerusalem
elders' response.
Verse 22 to 26.
So the Jerusalem elders
make a proposal.
They say,
Paul,
here's how you can
set things straight.
How you can show everyone
that you're not
teaching all Jews
everywhere
to forsake the law
of Moses,
but in fact,
as a Jew,
born as a Jew,
and still loving
your people,
you respect the law
and you're willing
to live by it.
You see,
what people were saying
about Paul
wasn't exactly true.
Paul never commanded
Jewish believers in Jesus
to immediately forsake
their distinctive
cultural traditions.
He didn't say,
you must stop
observing the Sabbath.
You must stop
celebrating Passover.
No, he never said that.
Now, he did say
that that's not necessary
to be right with God.
That's not necessary
for Gentiles.
To do those same things.
And he said
to Jewish believers,
he said,
you have to accept
Gentile Christians
as equal members
of the family of God,
not as second-class citizens.
Now,
now you might ask,
what about these
Jewish Christians
in Jerusalem,
zealous for the law?
Was that the most
mature Christian view
to hold so tightly
to observing the Sabbath,
celebrating Passover,
keeping kosher,
circumcising your children?
Well,
Paul would have said no.
Paul's attitude was,
neither circumcision
nor uncircumcision
counts for anything
but a new creation
in Christ.
Galatians 6.15.
So,
Paul didn't share
these Christians' zeal
for the Jewish law.
He was willing
to abide by it.
He was willing
to live by it
when he lived
among the Jews.
But,
you know,
he didn't think
it was that crucial
in the end.
So,
he would have disagreed
with them a little bit
about their priorities.
But he still recognized
them as brothers
and sisters in Christ
and he extended himself
in order to demonstrate
love for them.
And Paul's an example here
of a Christian
who sees another group,
Christian,
or group of Christians
and says,
you know,
I don't think they have
the best understanding
of some of these things.
I wouldn't totally agree
with them.
But you know what?
I'm going to extend myself
to love them.
I'm not going to just
keep my distance
because I don't like them
and I don't like quite
the way they do things.
But I'm going to
do all that I can
while being faithful
to Christ
to show that I love them
and care for them.
So,
here's a proposal.
Verse 23,
Jerusalem elders
made a proposal.
Here are four men,
Jewish believers in Jesus,
who made a temporary
Nazarite vow.
If you want to know
about a Nazarite vow,
read number six.
It was basically a vow
of temporary devotion
to God,
a special devotion to God
for a temporary period.
In particular,
it involved a commitment
to abstain from alcohol,
from grapes,
from grape juice,
from haircuts,
and from dead bodies.
Now,
that might seem
a little odd to us,
but it was sort of like
undertaking an extended fast,
or choosing to never
drink alcohol,
or going on a missions trip
as an expression of
devotion to God
and service to his people.
All right,
it's not something
that every Christian
has to do,
but it's a legitimate expression
of devotion,
of faithful devotion
to God.
So these men
had taken on this vow
for this temporary period.
They were coming
to the end of their vow.
When they would complete
their vow,
they'd go to the temple,
shave their head,
and they'd offer their hair,
sort of symbolizing
this whole time
that they had
set themselves apart
for special devotion
to God.
They would offer it
as a sacrifice.
It would actually be
burned up on the altar,
and they would also offer
a quite expensive offering.
One male lamb,
one ewe lamb,
one ram,
one basket of bread,
plus a drink offering
for each of them.
And that would be
the completion
of their vow.
And some of those offerings
would be shared
and eaten
as a sort of celebration.
So they would sort of be
making an offering to God
and hosting a big party
for everyone
who was there
at the same time.
So,
the Jerusalem elders say,
Paul,
why don't you go with them,
purify yourself
along with them,
go through the purification ritual,
and that way
you can be ritually pure,
you can pay their expenses.
And that'll be a public sign,
and everybody will see
that all these accusations
are clearly false,
and so they won't be offended
by your coming here
to Jerusalem.
Verse 26,
Paul agreed to the plan.
Now maybe some of you
are wondering,
should Paul really
agree to this plan?
I mean,
how could Paul,
believing that
Jesus had broken down
the dividing wall
between Jews and Gentiles,
how could he go back
into that temple
in Jerusalem
and participate
in worship there
any longer?
Was Paul compromising
his principles
and going along
with a misguided plan
which ended in disaster?
But Luke doesn't give us
any indication
that the plan
was misguided.
Or that Paul's
intentions were wrong.
In fact,
in chapter 23,
verse 11,
the Lord Jesus
stood by Paul
and said,
take courage,
for as you have
testified
to the facts
about me
here in Jerusalem,
so you must testify
also in Rome.
So the Lord Jesus
himself comes to Paul
and encourages him
and says,
you faithfully testified
about me
here in Jerusalem.
Jerusalem.
And it's also
consistent with
Paul's principles
in his letters.
So in 1 Corinthians 9,
Paul says,
to the Jews,
I became like a Jew
to win Jews.
To those under the law,
I became as one
under the law,
though not being myself
under the law,
that I might win
those under the law.
In other words,
Paul is willing
to stretch himself
and extend himself
to love
the people
that he was with.
Now,
and particularly
he was willing
to do this
because the Jerusalem
elders were very clear
in what they said to him,
we're supportive
of what you're doing
among the Gentiles
and we agree
with the Jerusalem council,
salvations by grace
through faith
in Jesus Christ
and that's it.
So that was clear
and because that was clear,
Paul could go along
with a temple
purification ritual
because it wasn't wrong.
It wasn't off limits.
So two implications
before we go on.
I know this is complicated.
I know it's hot.
Hang in there.
First,
as a follower of Jesus,
some beliefs
and practices
are non-negotiable
and others are not.
Right?
There's one unchanging gospel
of Jesus,
the Messiah,
the one and only,
the crucified and risen,
Lord and Savior.
The moral law of God
is also unchanging
in Old Testament
and the New Testament
which is summarized in
love the Lord your God
with all your heart,
soul, mind, and strength
and love your neighbor
as yourself.
And things like
the Ten Commandments
sort of flesh some of that out.
And the New Testament teaching
of Jesus and the apostles
fleshes that out.
what does that mean
to love God
above everything else
and love our neighbor?
And that's something
we don't,
we cannot compromise on.
Now the ceremonial law
was different.
It was a temporary shadow
pointing forward
to the reality in Christ.
So there's some things
that are non-negotiable
as Christian believers,
but other things are.
In different situations,
the practical application
of some of these
biblical principles,
what does it look like
to love your Jewish neighbor?
What does it look like
to love your Gentile neighbor?
That was going to look
different for Paul.
You know,
what does it look like
in today's world
to love your Muslim neighbor?
Well, that might look
a little different
than what does it look like
to love your secular,
happy pagan neighbor
who doesn't really want
anything to do
with any religion at all.
What does it mean
to communicate
the gospel of Jesus Christ
to very different kinds
of people who are coming
with very different assumptions
about what Christianity
is about
and what it means
to follow Jesus?
It's the same message.
We're not just changing
the message to,
you know,
please whoever we're with,
but there will be
different ways
of communicating it.
Second,
it's worth the trouble
to build bridges
with other Christians
who have different
ethnic backgrounds,
different political views,
different cultural traditions.
Right?
It would have been
much easier for Paul
to do one of two things.
Stay in Jerusalem
his whole life,
hang out with
the Jerusalem Christians,
and observe the law
without fail.
Or,
hang out with the Gentiles.
Stay out in the Roman Empire,
don't bother with those,
you know,
fussy Christians in Jerusalem.
But no,
Paul
was going to build bridges
because he loved them
and he recognized
that we're all part
of the family of God
through Christ together.
And so,
the gospel calls us
not to just surround
ourselves with other Christians
who think the same way
you do about everything
and earn roughly
the same amount of money
or in the same stage
of life as you
or have about the same amount
of formal education,
but to intentionally
extend ourselves
to people who are different
and who are part
of this church
or part of another church
and to make the effort
to express
that we're part
of one body
in Christ.
So,
we've seen the complicated
situation Paul
found himself in.
We've seen a careful
response from Paul
and the Jerusalem elders
and finally we see
the result.
Paul extended himself
to show his loyalty
to his own people.
The result was not
that everyone recognized
him for who he really was
and loved him
and was so grateful
and recognized
all the sacrifices
that he had made
traveling hundreds of miles
all the way to Jerusalem
to show his love
and build bridges.
No,
people turned on him,
falsely accused him,
beat him,
and tried to kill him.
Ironically,
Paul was accused
in verse 28
of defiling the temple
when he was in the process
of carrying out
a purification ritual.
As a Christian,
especially if you're
a Christian leader,
you may be at times,
despite your best efforts,
misunderstood.
You may be falsely
or even irrationally
accused.
As we read earlier,
Jesus said,
blessed are you
when others revile you
and persecute you
and utter all kinds
of evil against you
falsely
on my account.
Now,
those last two phrases
are important,
falsely
and on my account.
It doesn't mean
blessed are you
when people revile you
and say all kinds
of evil against you
for whatever reason
just because you're a jerk.
No,
falsely
on the account of Jesus.
Rejoice and be glad
for great is your reward
in heaven.
See,
at different times
in his ministry,
Paul took the heat
from both sides.
In Philippi,
he was seized
and dragged
into the marketplace
by pagan Gentiles
who said,
these men are Jews.
They're disturbing
our city,
advocating customs
that aren't lawful
for us Romans
to practice.
And then he gets
to Jerusalem
and he's seized
and dragged
out of the temple
by law-observant Jews
who shouted,
men of Israel,
help.
This is the man
who's teaching
everyone everywhere
against our people
and our law
and our temple.
He got it
from both sides.
Of course,
both accusations
can't be true
at the same time.
Part of what Luke
is trying to do
in the book of Acts
is to sort of show
all the accusations
that were thrown
at Paul
and the early Christians
and to say,
well,
if you look carefully,
none of them
are true.
Now,
interestingly,
the other Christians
in Jerusalem
don't appear
in the story again.
unlike the believers
in some other towns,
they don't visibly
come to Paul's defense
when he was attacked.
Now,
perhaps they wanted to
but simply weren't able to
because of the mob.
Perhaps they were afraid
of their own safety,
their own reputation,
and they held back.
We don't know.
By God's providence,
it was the tribune,
which is the Roman
military commander,
who stepped in
and saved Paul's life
from the angry mob.
So God accomplishes
his purposes
in all kinds of ways.
Now,
our passage ends
with verse 36.
The soldiers carrying
Paul up the steps
into the barracks,
into the fortress,
and the mob of the people
cried out,
away with him.
Paul came all the way
to Jerusalem
to demonstrate
grace and peace
from Jesus Christ
to the Christians there,
and to show love
to all his fellow Jews,
Christian and non-Christian.
The end result was
he almost got crucified.
Now, of course,
he didn't get crucified.
And in the next few chapters,
what we'll see
is that Paul
is actually vindicated.
And all the accusations
that were thrown against him,
he's pronounced,
he's publicly declared
not guilty.
And so we'll see
Paul's defense
over the next
several chapters
and acts
of himself
and of the gospel
of Jesus.
But, you know,
when you step
into the middle
of a complicated conflict
between groups
of people
that have a long history
of mistrust
and misunderstanding,
when you seek
to faithfully live out
the gospel of Jesus
and extend grace
and peace
through Jesus Christ,
part of the message
of this passage
is that you might get
beat up,
falsely accused,
and rejected.
It doesn't always go well.
But if that happens
to you,
you won't be the first
and neither was Paul
the first.
Before Paul,
there was Stephen,
the martyr in Jerusalem.
And before Stephen,
there was Jesus Christ
himself.
And what did Jesus Christ
do when he came
into this world?
He stepped into the middle
of the most complicated
and fraught
relationship
of all.
The relationship
between a holy
and pure God
and his sinful
and rebellious
people.
The history
of opposition
and enmity
stretched all the way
back to the beginning
of the human race.
The Gentiles,
the nations
of the world,
had walked in darkness
of idolatry
and immorality,
having exchanged
the glory
of the one true God
for the love
of created things.
The descendants
of Abraham
had been called
by God
to be a light
shining in the darkness.
And yet,
over and over,
they had refused
to listen to God's word
and often became
no better
than the nations
around them.
And so,
in the fullness
of time,
Jesus stepped
into the middle
of that complicated
and messy
and volatile
relationship
between the creator
God
and rebellious humanity,
between the God
who had made
covenant promises
and his unfaithful
people.
And Jesus came
to extend grace
and make peace
once and for all.
And he came
to the city
of Jerusalem
where God
had promised
to make his name
known to all
the world.
And he was arrested,
slandered,
beaten,
mocked.
And the mob
of the people
cried,
away with him.
And the Roman
authorities,
though they formally
declared his innocence,
handed him over
to the crowd
to be crucified.
You see,
Jesus Christ
paid a great price
to reconcile us
to God.
And that's what
Luke wants to remind us
of above all.
That Paul was following
in the footsteps
of the crucified
and risen
Messiah,
Jesus.
And that Jesus
stepped into the middle
of the relationship
between humanity
and God
so that we might
receive his grace
and know his peace
through his death
and through his resurrection.
And it's because
of what he has done
and the power
of his spirit
working in us
that we are also
enabled
to enter into the midst
of sticky situations
and sometimes
to bear the brunt
of others'
mistrust
and misinformation
and accusations
and seek to be
faithful followers
of Jesus Christ
in the middle of that.
Jesus was crucified
but he was also
resurrected.
And God vindicated him,
God proclaimed
to everyone
that he was the
righteous Savior
and the risen Lord.
And God promises
that as we follow
Jesus that whatever
sufferings we are
called to endure
along the way,
that he also promises
eternal glory.
Let's pray.
Father, we thank you
that in your great love
for the world
that you sent
your one and only son
so that whoever
would believe in him
would have,
would not perish
but have eternal life.
We thank you,
Father,
for what you have done
to reconcile us
to yourself.
Lord, we pray
that you would make
us peacemakers
in a troubled world,
peacemakers
between different people,
peacemakers
especially in your church.
And Lord,
that we would be messengers
of this gospel of peace,
that because you
stepped into the middle
of the relationship
between people
and God,
that we can be
reconciled with you,
that we can be forgiven
of our sins
and welcomed
into your family
forever.
Lord, we thank you
for that great good news.
We pray that you would be
our vision.
Lord, that we would
fix our eyes on you,
the author and finisher
of our faith.
We pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.