The Will of the Lord be Done

Introduction

This passage has often been controversial for a lot of commentators. If you read the text at face value, you seem to come away thinking that Paul was disobeying God’s will for his life. This is possible right? Paul was just a man. Commentators have struggled to reconcile the meaning of this passage for ages. Men like HA Ironside hold the possibility that Paul was disobeying God’s directive will, but was in God’s permissive will. Ironside believed that Paul loved his people so much and he had this offering to give to the people of Jerusalem that he possibly let that push him forward in disobedience. He sees it as an example of even the good men of the NT failing much like Peter did in the book of Galatians. Other like Ray Stedman feel that Paul was stubbornly resisting God’s will and God was telling him to stop every step of the way. Another view held by a smaller group of people believe that both Paul and the men of Tyre were led by the Spirit but Paul’s message was purer. So you can have different levels of purity and authority in a prophecy. I believe all of these view points are mistaken.

My view of these texts aligns with that of most commentators that it was God’s will for Paul to go to Jerusalem. I could be wrong but I want to show you how I come to that conclusion today. I believe God was merely warning Paul what would happen before he got there. It was kinda like one of those old mission impossible missions given to the agents that always began with these words: “Your mission, Dan/Jim, should you choose/decide to accept it...” This message will self-destruct in 10 seconds. God was warning Paul of the suffering and trials that awaited him in Jerusalem.

This morning we are going to work our way through the text and then ask ourselves this question: Was it God’s will for Paul to go to Jerusalem? I don’t want you to take my word for it, but I want you to see it for yourself and then in the conclusion I hope to leave you with some points to consider about the will of God from this passage. Follow along as we begin in vs 1-7

Paul’s Warning in Tyre vs 1-7

Last time we saw Paul, he was meeting with the elders of the church of Ephesus. Acts 20:38 “Sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake, that they should see his face no more. And they accompanied him unto the ship.” describes their last meeting as a time of sadness. The phrase in Acts 21:1 “And it came to pass, that after we were gotten from them, and had launched, we came with a straight course unto Coos, and the day following unto Rhodes, and from thence unto Patara:” The phrase literally means they tore themselves away. There was a strong emotional connection between Paul and his people.

Most of this text is a travel log that Luke keeps of their voyage back to Jerusalem, but on their way they end up stopping in Tyre. Tyre was not one of the cities that Paul had visited in the past and most likely the gospel came here after Stephen’s death and the believers were scattered. In Acts 11:19 it mentions that these believers had made their way to Phenice where Tyre was located. But in this short amount of time, merely seven days, God knit the heart of the believers with Paul.

While in Tyre Paul receives a message through some prophets in the church of Tyre. The message seems to be pretty simple Do not go up to Jerusalem. We cannot discount this message either because the verse says this prophecy came through the Spirit. The way this is worded seems to imply that Paul disobeyed God.

The message doesn’t seem to have phased Paul because vs 5 says that they went on their way and the church helps them along on their way. In fact as Paul is getting ready to board the ship, they all gather together on the beach, kneel down and pray for his voyage. Paul gets back on the ship and they continue their voyage stopping at smaller towns along the way.

Paul’s Warning in Caesarea vs 8-15

Eventually Paul ends up in Caesarea a bigger town and they stay with Philip. Last time we saw Philip he had left Samaria and ended up in Caesarea; so he has been here the whole time since nearly 20 years. In that time, Philip has had four daughters who were prophets. It shouldn’t surprise us that these young women prophesied because God had promised in Joel 2:28 “And it shall come to pass afterward, That I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions:” Peter had claimed that this prophecy was beginning to be fulfilled in his famous sermon in Pentecost.

While staying with Philip, a prophet named Agabus comes to visit. Why don’t people name their kids Agabus? We could call him Aggie. We have seen this guy before because he was the one in Acts 11:27-30 that prophesied about the great famine that was going to come. But Agabus comes with a prophesy for Paul as well.

I like how he gives his prophesy because we see a biblical example of using object lessons when we preach. Agabus takes Paul’s girdle. Now this isn’t like the girdles that women used to wear around their waste to make them look skinnier. This was more like a belt that would keep your rob close to the body. It was also used to keep money in most of the time. Agabus wraps his hands and his feet and prophesies that Paul would be found by the Jews and taken into custody by the Gentiles. This prophecy was again said to be by the Holy Ghost. Notice that in this porphecy there is not command not to go; rather, it was merely a warning of what would happen if he went.

This message was so moving that Luke, Paul’s traveling companions and the church all continually beg him not to go. Paul’s heart breaks seeing them weep like this but he is determined that he is going to go to Jerusalem and he is willing to die if need by.

Vs 14 is the key verse here: The will of the Lord be done. But that still leaves us with the question, Was it God’s will for Paul to go to Jerusalem?

Was it God’s will for Paul to go to Jerusalem?

Principles of Interpretation

If we are going to understand this passage we need to let scripture interpret scripture. Are there other passages that deal with this decision that Paul made to go to Jerusalem?

Acts 19:21 “After these things were ended, Paul purposed in the spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome.”

There are two interpretations of this phrase in the spirit. Some people believe that this is referring to Paul’s spirit meaning he was determined in himself to go to Jerusalem. Personally, I believe this is the Holy Spirit because of the word the in front of it. If this is the case then Paul and the Holy Spirit were agreed and determined that he should go to Jerusalem. We seem to still have a conflict because Paul is being told one thing and the prophets seem to have been told another thing. Does the Holy Spirit ever contradict the will of God?

Acts 20:22 “And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there:”

The language gets a little stronger here because Paul says he is going bound by the Spirit. It is an interesting play on words because Paul would be bound by his enemies in Jerusalem, but he is compelled by the Spirit to go. Paul did not feel like he had any other choice.

Acts 23:11 “And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.”

Later when Paul is in Jerusalem and has been arrested, notice that God does not condemn Paul for being here. He doesn’t say, Paul its all your fault if you would have just listened to me, you wouldn’t be here. No, God comforts Paul that it is his will for Paul to declare Him in Rome just like he did in Jerusalem.

Romans 15:31 “That I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judaea; and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints;”

One other passage I want us to look at sheds some more light on the situation. Paul wrote the book of Romans before he went to Rome that last time and in his letter he asks them to pray that he would be delivered from the bonds he expected to come in Jerusalem.

All these passages while they don’t necessarily explain the passage in Acts 21:4, do seem to assert that Paul knew what would befall him and he was led of the Spirit to go to Jerusalem.

Jesus purpose for Paul’s ministry

Acts 9:15-16 “But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.”

When God sent Ananias to get Paul, He told Ananias what his plans for Paul would be. Included in that plans was:

preaching to the Gentiles

preaching to kings

preaching to the Jews

suffering for Christ- Could you imagine being called to suffer? Hi my name is John and I’m not called to be a pastor, but God has called me to suffer. The truth is that we are all called to take up our cross.

The key reason that this passage is important is that Paul was called to preach to kings. As far as we know, Paul had not preached to any kings up until this point. His first recorded sermon to a king was to Agrippa in Acts 25 who was in Jerusalem. We also don’t have any other records that Paul preached to other kings though it is possible he stood before Nero. But from a historical perspective, it was necessary for Paul to go to Jerusalem where he would stand before a king and preach the gospel.

Grammar

I don’t want to bore you too much but perhaps you need more evidence. One other piece to the puzzle is the fact that the passage in Acts 21:4 uses the word through while the other words use what in Greek is called a Dative or the preposition by. The word by in Greek is often used for what we call direct agency meaning that there is a direct connection between the spirit and the action. The word through shows indirect agency thus putting a layer of separation between the Spirit and the message. This isn’t always the case, but it is a commonly used feature of Greek grammar.

Reconciliation

So how do we reconcile these passages with Acts 21:4 which seems to indicate that the prophets also spoke by the Holy Spirit. I believe the best answer and it is the one that most people take is that the Holy Spirit actually revealed to them the suffering that Paul would face in Jerusalem, but they went further than what the Holy Spirit revealed and interpreted that to mean Paul should not go to Jerusalem. In essence, they inferred an inaccurate response to that message they had received from the Holy Spirit.

Do we not see this happen in our day? We see people who read inspired word from scripture, but then they take it and apply it in a way that God never intended it to be applied. One example of this is the idea that we are to be separate from the world. This means that we abstain from the evil of the world and live distinct holy lives. Some however have taken this to mean that we separate physically from the world. Have nothing to do with the people of the world. Jesus said in John 17:15 “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.”

So it is possible and even likely that these men had a message from God, but in their zeal they misapplied it. They assumed that Paul should not go because danger awaited him there. We can understand their heart. They do not want to see anything bad happen to Paul and they want him to be able to continue his ministry. But their good motives were misdirected.

This interpretation is consistent with the fact that when Agabus arrives, he does not tell Paul not to go to Jerusalem; rather, he prophesies the suffering that Paul will face when he arrives.

Conclusion

While I think it is helpful for us to understand this passage and know if it was God’s will for Paul to go to Jerusalem. There are some important applications of this text to our lives.

It is important to live every day of our lives in God’s will.

The first and most important take away from this message is that it is important for us to consider God’s will every single day of our lives. James 4:13-15 “Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.” A Christian should have a desire to do what God wants and I do believe God has a will for everything in our lives. Sometimes that will allows us some latitude, but God is concerned with our lives. To believe He doesn’t have a will for our lives is to believe He doesn’t care about the details of our lives.

Sometimes well intentioned people can be wrong about what God desires for our lives.

Notice in this text, these prophets who must have been godly men because God came to them, were misguided in their application. They were wrong to go further than God’s message. Later after Agabus’ prophesy we see Luke and the church crying and begging Paul not to go. Sometimes well intentioned people can just be wrong. It isn’t that they don’t want whats best for you but they just don’t see it. In the end, you are accountable to God for your own decisions.

Sometimes you can have the right facts, but not the right solution to the problem.

There is wisdom in getting counsel from a multitude of counselors, but that counsel does not necessarily guarantee that you know God’s will now. Things might make sense and still not be the will of God for your life. It made sense to not go to Jerusalem. Paul could have sent Timothy, Titus or Luke with the money to the church in Jerusalem. Think of all the other countries Paul could have gone to if he had not gone to Jerusalem. But all the facts in the world, did not necessarily make it God’s will for his life.

Jim Elliott knew that preaching to the Auca Indians was dangerous. These people were near extinction because they were killing themselves off. No one else had done this before and they didn’t know enough of the language yet. Logic would have said don’t go, work with Dayume and learn the language and then send her back as a missionary; but that wasn’t God’s will for Jim Elliott.

Sometimes God’s will is not the easiest path for us to pursue.

The easiest road is not even normally the path that Jesus has called us to follow. Matt 16:24-26 “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” God’s will may not always be easy, but at least when you are walking beside God, you have someone to lean on.

Heads bowed, eyes closed this morning. I know that many of us live our lives making decisions according to what makes sense, but have you ever thought that God might have something more for your life. God loves you and has a plan for your life. Today, I want to challenge you in two ways:

First, are you seeking God’s will for your life? Maybe God’s will is something totally different than what you expected, but I can promise you this it is better than anything you could ever have imagined. There may be hard times like Paul faced, but there is the satisfaction of knowing you are where God wants you and He is there with you.

Second, are you leaning on your own understanding of what God’s will is? The bible says in Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; And lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, And he shall direct thy paths.” Just because it makes sense to you doesn’t mean it is God’s will for you life. Seek Him. Ask Him to direct your paths and trust that His way is always best.

Ultimately, this comes down to a submission issue. Are you submitted to God’s will in your life? If you have been pursuing your own way and what makes sense to you, will you come down front this morning and just commit to seeking God’s will and surrendering to what He wants for your life.