700 Miles In Paul’s Shoes
Notes
Transcript
Review
Review
Turn to Acts 21.
Luke highlighted two of Paul’s messages in Acts chapter 20. The first message was noteworthy because while Paul was preaching, a young man named Eutychus went asleep, fell three stories, and died. God restored his life again. We saw that God’s favor is shown towards us as He chooses. We don’t get to pick and choose God’s acts of grace towards us or anybody else. We can pray. We can ask, and we should. But God shows His favor as He chooses.
The second message that Luke recorded for us was a message that Paul preached to the Ephesian pastors. We learned about Paul’s desire to be a success in God’s sight. Paul wanted to reach the finish line of his life with joy, having fulfilled the ministry which he had received of the Lord Jesus. That should be the #1 goal for each of us.
Message
Message
Read Acts 21:1-8.
To better appreciate what we just read, I’m going to summarize Paul’s movements in chapters 20-21.
Next slide here: Acts 20 - Pauls travels from Ephesus and throughout Macedonia and Greece
Next slide here: Acts 20 - Paul’s travels from Troas to Miletus.
Next slide here: Acts 21 - Paul’s travels from Miletus to Tyre
Next slide here: Acts 21 - Paul’s travels from Tyre to Jerusalem
Obviously, Paul was something of a world-class traveler. I don’t know if frequent flier miles were a thing in his day, but if so, I’m sure he had platinum status.
Acts chapter 21 tells the story of how Paul sailed and walked approximately 700 miles from Miletus to Jerusalem. Today we’re going to retrace his steps and travel 700 Miles In Paul’s Shoes.
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In Paul’s shoes: enjoying Christian hospitality - Acts 21:1-8.
Here in the space of eight verses we find three examples of Paul staying in the homes of other believers. From Acts chapters 1-21, there are at least six examples of Christians staying at each other’s homes.
This practice may seem like a minor point because after all, that was the culture of the day. Today, it is much more commonplace for churches to utilize local hotels or even to have facilities of their own where they can house other Christians that are passing through the area.
We live in a culture that, I fear, has been losing the art of hospitality for many years. Christians are called to be hospitable no matter the cultural trends.
Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality.
Use hospitality one to another without grudging.
Pastors especially are commanded to be hospitable.
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Hospitality: φιλο-ξενία - love to strangers, generous to guests
That’s what Paul experienced in city after city as he traveled in verses 1-8. He experienced Christian hospitality in those places as believers opened up their homes!
Application: Church family, this is a passion of mine:
Read slowly:
let’s do everything in our power to push back against the cultural tide and practice Christian hospitality! Let’s do everything we can to show some genuine, Christ-like love to each other and to our community.
If you want to get to know people better in our church family the best thing you can do is spend time with them during the week.
Invite them over to your house - you don’t have to be fancy to be hospitable!
Take them out for coffee
Find out what they enjoy doing and do something to be hospitable!
Maybe you feel like you can’t do much - and that may be true - but I’m sure that some of these Christians couldn’t do much either. Do what you can to defy our culture and to show hospitality towards others.
Christian hospitality - that’s what you would have experienced if you had traveled in Paul’s shoes.
Secondly…
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In Paul’s shoes: knowing the future - Acts 21:9-16.
Read Acts 21:9-16.
Have you ever thought to yourself something along the lines of, “If only I knew the future…”? Well, Paul did know the future and it wasn’t looking too good for him.
Agabus the prophet came along and told Paul what was coming. It’s not like Paul knew all of the details, but he knew this: he would be arrested and he would be transferred to a Gentile authority for judgment.
Now I don’t know about you, but if it was revealed to me what my future was, I’d probably do what I could make sure that the unpleasant parts got changed.
I could say it this way: if I had known at 15 years of age what I would experience in life by 30 years of age, I probably wouldn’t have accepted it.
Paul knew what was coming, but he was determined to do the will of God anyway.
Application: Our churches, yea, our country, is thirsting for men and women who are as resolved to do the will of God as Paul was.
Our country is thirsting for men and women who will say, “more than any creature comfort, more than any convenience, more than anything else, I want to do the will of God!”
On the soft bed of luxury most of the kingdoms have died.
Edward Joseph Young
I fear that the luxuries and comforts of America have so softened us that we hardly aspire to the will of God for our lives, much less be willing to do it if we knew what it was. Paul knew that God’s plan for his future included suffering - and he embraced it. He looked persecution in the eye and marched straight ahead. Church family, lets have that same heart!
So far we’ve walked in Paul’s shoes, enjoying Christian hospitality.
Secondly we’ve walked in Paul’s shoes, knowing the future.
Now thirdly…
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In Paul’s shoes: ministering to Jew and Gentile - Acts 21:17-26.
Read Acts 21:17-26.
Paul arrived in Jerusalem and updated the church on all that God had been doing among the Gentiles across the Roman Empire. The church is happy to hear what God has been doing among the Gentiles, but notice their response in verse 20.
Read Acts 21:20-21.
Did you catch what they had been told about Paul’s ministry in verse 21? They had been told that in essence, Paul was telling the Jews spread abroad that they could forsake their Judaism. This was not accurate information. Paul did not seek to overthrow the law, but simply to note that Christ fulfilled it. He did not turn Jews away from the law, he pointed them to Christ who lived it perfectly. If a practicing Jew wanted to continue in the law, Paul had no problem with that, so long as they understood that it gained them no favor with God. Paul taught that the “Gentiles did not have to become Jews to be saved. Jews could remain Jews and be saved if they trusted in Christ” and not themselves for salvation. - Witness to Christ, page 307
This accusation put Paul between a rock and a hard place because his sincerity as a Jew was being questioned. He was a devout Jew, but he needed to prove it so as to protect his testimony with the Jews.
Understand this about Jewish culture: “It was regarded as an especially pious act to pay the expenses of others in the temple sacrifices.” - Witness to Christ, page 308
So the elders offered a solution: there were four men who were under a Nazarite vow which required an animal sacrifice at the Temple. If Paul joined these men by paying for the expense of their sacrifices, it would immediately remove any legitimate concern against him.
To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. And this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you.
Application: There’s a principle that shines through in Paul’s example. Paul would deny himself in order to serve others. Paul’s serving others didn’t come with preexisting conditions.
Many influencers in our day tell us to avoid discomfort and to do what feels good. They tell us that self-denial is old fashioned. They say, “follow your heart.” They tell you to remove everyone from your life that you label “toxic.” They tell you that you deserve more.
Much of that advice is self-centered and borders on narcissism. Paul lived the opposite. When he was among Jews, he followed Jewish practices. When he was among Gentiles, he followed Gentile cultural practices so long as they did not violate his conscience toward God. Why did he do this? Was Paul just a chameleon? A people pleaser? No! He practiced self-denial so that he could better minister to others and not hinder the cause of Christ.
Christian, that’s real Christianity. That’s the kind of Christianity that is desperately needed in America today. Are you willing to deny yourself your rights and your preferences for others? Or would you rather sacrifice your Christianity on the altar of comfort and convenience?
Paul saw that this suggestion was reasonable, so he agreed, but his attempt to resolve this problem would only lead to a greater one.
We’ve walked in Paul’s shoes: ministering to Jew and Gentile, now fourthly…
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In Paul’s shoes: keeping a calm demeanor - Acts 21:27-40.
Read Acts 21:27-40. Notice, Paul gets falsely accused all the time.
From a human perspective, it seems as if Paul’s situation just goes from bad to worse.
We saw that first an accusation was brought against him by other Christians that he was teaching the believing Jews to reject the Mosaic law. Now he gets accused by non-believing Jews of bringing Gentiles to the Temple Mount and desecrating it with their presence! But that’s not all! The whole city gets stirred up over this and the mob dragged Paul out of the Temple complex with the intent to stone him to death.
Paul’s desire was to go to Rome after this, but he was ready to die in Jerusalem and no doubt in this moment, he probably thought that this would be the end.
Word reached the Roman military tribune that was stationed in Jerusalem at the time. He commanded a cohort of 600 men, plus auxiliary units, for a total complement of 1000 soldiers. It was his job to keep Jerusalem under control but someone or something had the whole city in an uproar. Grabbing as many soldiers as he could, he ran down to take control of the situation.
When he got to where Paul was, he assumed that Paul had done something wrong - after all, the crowd was enraged and beating him to death.
Read Acts 21:33-34.
The Greek in verse 33 is very interesting. “Who he was” is in the optative mood, which was less used in Greek language. It emphasizes that the tribune had extreme doubt over who this man was. No one was able to give him clear answers. The phrase “what he had done” is perfect tense. It emphasizes that the tribune wanted clear answers and he wanted them right now.
When no one was able to get him clear information, he had Paul taken into the castle for interrogation.
Here is where Paul’s calm demeanor is particularly evident. Using very polite Greek, he asks the tribune if he could speak with him. As the commander responds, he indicates his presupposition that Paul was an Egyptian seditionist - another assumption about Paul!
Through all of this, Paul kept a calm demeanor. Was it because he just had the right personality for this? Is that the takeaway? Some people are just more predisposed to handle tough situations while others get caught up in the moment and fly off the handle emotionally? Personalities do vary, but that’s no excuse for a person’s behavior and that is not the point of this text.
In the midst of all that chaos, I believe that what kept Paul calm was the knowledge that he was in the center of the will of God. We’ve seen already that Paul knew that God was with him and would not forget him there.
Application: Christian, there is a confidence and a calmness that God gives when you are in a right relationship with Him. When you know that you are right with God, when you know that you are exactly where He wants you to be, God will give you a peace that will carry you through the hardest of circumstances and will enable you to do things you never thought you could do.
Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
That was how Paul had a calm demeanor through all of this chaos.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Today we’ve travelled approximately 700 miles in Paul’s shoes. Obviously, he experienced many things in his travels.
He enjoyed Christian hospitality
He moved forward even though he knew the future
He ministered to Jew and Gentile
He kept a calm demeanor
700 Miles in Paul’s shoes.
