Shedding Self-Preservation

INTRODUCTION

507 years ago, Martin Luther, a spicy Augustinian monk and priest, walked up to Wittenburg Castle Church and nailed a document that he had penned to the door— the 95 Theses.

The 95 Theses consisted of scathing criticisms of the Catholic Church—primarily aimed at the practice of indulgences.

Roman Catholic doctrine teaches something called the “Treasury of Merit.”

This is where the church somehow possesses the surplus good works of Jesus, Mary and faithful Catholics.

The Roman Catholic hierarchy has the ability to dole out these surplus merits to the moral accounts of Catholics.

When you receive from the treasury of merit, you are receiving an indulgence.

These indulgences can be obtained by doing good works yourself, offering up prayers or making a pilgrimage to some landmark.

But in Luther’s day, there was another way to get indulgences for yourself or for a loved one who was already suffering in purgatory—paying for the righteousness they lacked in flames.

You could buy them.

After giving your money, you would get a piece of paper saying you got some merit from the treasury!

Of course, all of this is antithetical to the New Testament Gospel taught by Christ and when the money gets involved, it is particularly wrong.

And this is what Luther was reacting to.

What Luther meant as a simple act of protest became a movement that swept across Europe.

Reformation ideas had been simmering for 200 years and Luther’s protest turned the heat way up on the stove.

Three and a half years after nailing the 95 Theses to the church door, Luther was excommunicated from the church by Pope Leo X.

A few months later, he was summoned to the city of Worms in southwest Germany, where he would stand trial for his teachings and be beckoned to recant them.

To apologize and take it back.

As April of 1521 approached, Luther had many friends who pleaded with him not to go to Worms and appear before the Roman Catholic authorities.

They felt this meant sure death for the man.

And yet, Luther was resolved.

He cast off the temptation to preserve himself and was resolved to take his stand for the Gospel.

He said this about the trial at Worms:

If I had heard that as many devils would set on me in Worms as there are tiles on the roofs, I should nonetheless have ridden there.

Martin Luther

CONTEXT

We see a similar situation in our study of Acts this morning.

We are moving into chapter 21, where we have Paul on his way to Jerusalem.

He knows he will suffer there.

Others know he will suffer there.

And they are urging him toward self-preservation.

Save yourself! Don’t go!

This is there cry to their friend.

But we will see that Paul is determined to go.

He is determined to shed self-preservation for the sake of Christ and His Word.

He is resolved to serve God and His Gospel, no matter the cost.

It is an appropriate text for us to look at just days after the anniversary of Luther nailing his famous document to that famous door.

And it is an appropriate text for us to look at on a day when we pray for persecuted Christians around the world.

And more than just appropriate, this passage is applicable.

We will have two teaching points for our lives this morning:

1. Disciples of Christ must forsake self-preservation, even when the future is bleak.

2. Disciples of Christ must forsake self-preservation, understanding that the future is bright.

PASSAGE

Acts 21:1–16 (ESV)

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 (Pat-er-uh). And having found a ship crossing to Phoenicia, we went aboard and set sail. 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. 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. 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 and said farewell to one another. Then we went on board the ship, and they returned home.

When we had finished the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais (Toll-uh-may-is), and we greeted the brothers and stayed with them for one day. 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. He had four unmarried daughters, who prophesied. While we were staying for many days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. 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.’ ” When we heard this, we and the people there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem. 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.” And since he would not be persuaded, we ceased and said, “Let the will of the Lord be done.”

After these days we got ready and went up to Jerusalem. And some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us, bringing us to the house of Mnason (Nason—like Mason) of Cyprus, an early disciple, with whom we should lodge.

EXPOSITION

FROM ASIA TO TYRE (v. 1-3)

We are officially on the last lap in the book of Acts now.

The white flag is waving as we come around the final turn.

Acts 21-28 tracks the story of the Apostle Paul and his suffering in chains for the Gospel’s sake as he travels to Jerusalem and then ends up in Rome—the heart of the Gentile world.

In the first few verses of this passage, Luke is explaining how Paul and company got from Asia to Tyre.

After saying goodbye to the Ephesian elders, Paul is working Southeast down the coast of Asia.

Kos and Rhodes are little islands off the coast of Asia and then Patara was a thriving maritime town on the coast of modern-day Turkey.

From there, Paul, Luke and the others find a ship and they sail across the Mediterranean Sea to Tyre.

Tyre was a major ancient trade center. It was the most important settlement in Phoenecia.

It was under Roman rule, but a free city.

PUSH-BACK IN TYRE (v. 4-6)

Paul is there for a week (v. 4), where he is staying with Christians.

This is where Paul receives his first push-back about going on toward Jerusalem.

Luke says that through the Spirit, they were telling Paul to not go to Jerusalem.

At first glance this seems confusing because when Paul was speaking to the Ephesian elders, he told them, “And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit...” (Acts 20:22)

Is the Spirit saying something different to the believers in Tyre?

That wouldn’t make any sense.

God is not a man, that He should lie.

His Spirit will not say one thing to Paul and another to these believers.

Instead of thinking that the Spirit is giving contradictory statements to Paul and the believers in Tyre, we should simply understand Luke’s words to mean that they are reacting to what the Spirit has said.

The Spirit has revealed to them that Paul will suffer, just as He revealed it to Paul, but they do not have Paul’s resolve on the issue.

Their response is, “Paul—preserve yourself. Don’t go into certain danger in Jerusalem.”

In Acts 21:4 the prophecy is correct (Paul will suffer), but the inference drawn from the prophecy (Paul shouldn’t go to Jerusalem) is mistaken.

Tom Schreiner

So despite his love for these believers, he does not listen to them.

At the end of the week, all these Christian families go with Paul outside of the city, they get down on their knees and pray with him and then they say goodbye (v. 5-6)

ON TO CAESAREA (v. 7-9)

The mission team moves on by sailing south down the coast of Judea.

They spend one day with the Christians in Ptolemais (v. 7)

Then they arrive in Caesarea, where they stay with Philip the Evangelist and his prophesying daughters (v. 8-9).

Caesarea is where the Roman governor of Judea lived and it was by far the most Roman place in Judea. There were lots of Gentiles there.

This is probably why Philip settled there.

It was best place in Judea to preach the Gospel to non-Jewish people and call them to repent.

PROPHECY AND MORE PUSH-BACK (v. 10-14)

While they are there, the prophet Agabus re-appears. (v. 10)

The last time we saw him, he had traveled from Jerusalem to Antioch and he predicted a great famine in the Roman Empire during the reign of Claudius.

Now he is predicting what will happen to Paul in Jerusalem.

He takes Paul’s belt and he binds his own feet and hands (v. 11), as a symbol of what the Holy Spirit says will happen to Paul in Jerusalem.

It may seem odd or overly dramatic for Agabus to do this, but he is simply speaking and acting the ways God’s prophets had spoken and acted in the past.

God often communicated his prophecies with both the words and actions of prophets.

For example, in Ezekiel 4, in order to warn the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah of judgment, God had Ezekiel build a little model city and then lay on his side for well over a year, in order to warn people of the sieges and years of exile that were coming.

Another example would be in Isaiah, when God had Isaiah go about naked and barefoot for three years in order to demonstrate how Assyria would carry away Egyptian captives and Cushite exiles.

Agabus uses the belt to show that when Paul gets to Jerusalem, the Jews will bind him and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.

Now this all comes to pass later in this chapter when the temple crowd is stirred up against Paul.

Acts 21:31–33 ESV

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 have argued that Agabus’ prophecy was incorrect because the Jews were beating Paul and the Romans rescued him by arresting him.

But the prophecy has come true in the general sense.

What Agabus predicted is that the Jews would cause Paul to be bound by Romans.

This is what happened.

Paul even describes in this way in his own words in chapter 28:

Acts 28:17 ESV

After three days he called together the local leaders of the Jews, and when they had gathered, he said to them, “Brothers, though I had done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, yet I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans.

Maybe Agabus was only given a general outline by the Lord and not the exact details.

Either way—what he predicted ultimately took place.

And what he predicted was disturbing and unsettling to Paul’s friends, including Luke.

He says that he and all the brothers and sisters in Caesarea begin to plead with Paul not to go. (v. 12)

And Paul says, “What are you doing to me here? You’re crying and your tears are breaking my heart?” (v. 13)

And yet listen to Paul’s resolve:

For I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.

Luke and Philip and everyone else there respond with submission to God’s will—Let the will of the Lord be done (v. 14)

ARRIVING IN JERUSALEM (v. 15-16)

And so Paul’s missionary team does what Paul has been set on doing all throughout his third missionary journey—they travel to Jerusalem.

Some of the believers from Caesarea join up with them and they stay at the house of Mnason—one of the earliest converts to Christianity.

FORSAKING SELF-PRESERVATION EVEN WHEN THE FUTURE IS BLEAK

Understanding the passage, I want to highlight two teaching points for us this morning. Here is the first:

1. Disciples of Christ must forsake self-preservation, even when the future is bleak.

The heart of Paul’s resolve is found in verse 13.

He is not just ready for prison. If need be, he is ready to die for the name of the Lord who saved him.

It is one thing to be resolved about things in which you seem to have a great chance of success and survival. All sorts of people do that.

If we are in Virginia Beach standing at the base of Mount Trashmore, which is just a large hill, and I told you I would give you $100 to climb it, you would be to the top in no time.

You might even do it for free if I challenged your pride and taunted you.

You would be quickly resolved to do it because there is no danger to yourself. It’s just a hill. And you have a great chance of getting to the top.

But if we stand at the base of Mount Everest in the dead of winter and I say, “I will give you $1 million to climb it,” you likely would not climb it. You might be aware the almost 400 people have died trying to climb Everest.

The reward seems great, but the outlook is too bleak to risk it. Self-preservation would win out over the idea of becoming a millionaire.

Jerusalem is more like Everest for Paul.

The outlook is bleak.

He is going to Jerusalem, the place where His Lord was crucified, to proclaim that the crucified Lord has resurrected and that as the God-man, He must be worshipped.

He has been harassed by the Jewish establishment through every step of his missionary work and now he is going right into the belly of the beast and planting a flag for Christ.

If they tried to kill him in Galatia and Macedonia and Achaia and Asia, what in the world will they try to do to him Jerusalem of Judea—the epicenter of the Jewish culture?

Certainly Paul knows he will arrive there and meet men who are just as he used to be—men who breathe out murderous threats against the church and are persecutors of the church of God.

He is even urged by well-meaning friends not to go.

He experiences this in Tyre when the infallible prophecy of the Spirit is responded to in a fallible way and the believers there plead with Paul not to go.

He experiences it in Caesarea, where even Luke tries to get Paul to turn back, in light of Agabus’ prophecy.

Who could blame Paul if he decided, “You know what? This is all a bit much. Let’s go find a different place to carry on the mission?”

Who could blame Paul if a little pragmatism took over?

A little—self-preservation.

After all, this is our nature.

Our natural inclination is to fly away from danger. It is our nature to seek to preserve ourselves.

This is proven by every car commercial that brags about all of its new bells and whistles and scores and approvals that make it the most safe vehicle on the market.

This is proven by the droves of people who pack up and leave town when a massive storm is headed toward them.

This is even proven by the way we flinch if someone suddenly makes an unexpected, aggressive movement toward us.

It is also proven by how we react to people who seem to have no regard for self-preservation like tornado-chasers or the maniacs in engaging in the sport of slap-fighting on our social media feeds.

But when it comes to our Christianity, if we are to be disciples of the Lord Jesus, we must push back against this natural inclination to preserve ourselves in order to proclaim Christ and fulfill the ministry that the Lord Jesus gave us.

We cannot be like Peter on the night when Jesus was arrested, who denied his relationship with Christ on three separate occasions in an effort to keep himself unharmed.

We must be like Paul in Acts 21, who even swats away the words of loving and caring friends in order to be obedient to call of King Jesus.

TAKE UP YOUR CROSS (LUKE 9:23-25)

Jesus’ own words help us to understand what this looks like and what our motivation is:

Luke 9:23–25 ESV

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?

Take up your cross daily and deny yourself.

Not preserve yourself, but deny yourself.

Not just on days when it seems like survival and success are imminent.

But on all the days—even when it seems like survival and success may be bleak.

This is what basic Jesus-following is all about.

The obedience of a disciple is a resolve to deny the self.

JC Ryle

The self says, “Let’s stay alive here. Let’s avoid discomfort. Let’s aim for safety.”

But we do not walk in our flesh. We walk in the Spirit, who says, “Let’s honor the living Christ, here. Even if it comes at a high cost. Let’s aim for pleasing God.”

And our motivation for denying this natural inclination to preserve ourselves and obey the Lord Jesus comes in what Jesus says in the rest of that Luke 9:23-25 passage.

Those who call their lives their own and seek to safeguard them, will lose them.

Their unwillingness to take up their cross daily will show that they have not truly repented and tasted saving grace.

Their reward will be their disobedient, flesh-fulfilling, preserved life.

But those who say that their lives belong to Christ and daily take up their cross, even if the outlook is bleak, will find their lives are actually saved.

Not through any work they have done, but through the finished work of Christ.

And they will show they have clearly placed all faith in that work by the way they selflessly serve the Savior who died and rose again with total abandonment.

Satan and the world want us to think that salvation comes through self-preservation, when Jesus promises us that it is just the opposite.

Salvation is found when the soul is handed over to God, the flesh is denied and the believer says, “I am Yours. Teach me thy will and I will do it.”

This is certainly something that Martin Luther understood as he was headed to Worms.

His good friend and fellow Reformer, Martin Bucer, a heavyweight in his own right, played the role of the Christians in Tyre and Caesarea for Luther.

Bucer urged Luther not to go stand trial in Worms.

He told him that he would be burned.

But Luther understood what Paul understood—self-preservation is not the path of the disciple.

APPLICATION

For most of us, it is doubtful that we would find ourselves in a situation where we are staring death in the face for the sake of the Gospel.

But if we are honest with ourselves, we seek to preserve ourselves in the face of lesser dangers.

We want to share the Gospel with a family member at Thanksgiving.

But what if they get angry and call us a zealot?

What if they say we are ruining a perfectly good meal?

What if they say we are close-minded?

We want to go on a mission trip.

But what if something happens while I am there?

What if I am uncomfortable in an unfamiliar place?

What if it the financial cost demands some sacrifices?

We want to do more ministry in our neighborhood.

But what if my neighbors reject my efforts?

What if I let them in my lives and they are incredibly frustrating?

What if their lives are a mess?

What if they are liberals?!?

Self-preservation tends to be relative.

You don’t have to be living in a place of heavy persecution to be tempted to self-preserve.

Satan will take your situation, in your context, and he will fan the flame of fear in order to tempt you to run to disobedient safety, away from whatever cross-carrying Jesus is calling you to.

He will make the Thanksgiving meal conversation look like death.

He will make the mission trip look like a monster.

He will make neighborhood evangelism look like a bleak, impossible task.

And he will whisper to you that the best thing you can do is back into a parking lot of complacency, fold your hands, and suppress the call of God on your conscience.

Jesus says, “Deny yourself.”

Satan, the world and the flesh say, “Preserve yourself.”

But we must remember what John Wesley would tell young men he trained up for ministry:

Act in all things, not according to your own will, but as a son in the Gospel.

John Wesley

The son in the Gospel obeys the Son of the Gospel—no matter what, even when the task looks like climbing Everest in the dead of winter.

FORSAKING SELF-PRESERVATION AND UNDERSTANDING THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT

But before we close, I don’t want to leave you at the base of Everest feeling overwhelmed, with the weight of the cross upon your shoulders.

A study of Paul’s words in his New Testament letters demonstrate to us that there is a great hope in the midst of self-denial and cross-carrying.

2. Disciples of Christ must forsake self-preservation, understanding that the future is bright.

To understand Paul’s mindset as a man willing to suffer and die in Jerusalem, like his Savior before him, I want to point us to one particular place in his letter to the Philippians.

Philippians 3:8-11

Philippians 3:8–11 ESV

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

There is nothing that Paul counts as more worthy than knowing Christ.

Christ’s worth surpasses everything for Paul—even his own life.

He would not trade knowing Jesus for anything.

It is like if Paul were to take out a piece of paper and make two columns and list out “Gains” in one column and “Losses,” in the other, the Gain Column would just list Christ and the Loss Column would list everything else.

And Paul lives this way so that he may:

know Christ

So that he may know the power of His resurrection

May share in the sufferings of Christ

And by any means possible, attain the resurrection from the dead

Those last two purposes are extremely relevant to what we are seeing in Paul’s life in Acts 21.

As he walks the road into Jerusalem, he is walking a road that his Savior walked.

When he ends up being beaten on by the Jews in Jerusalem, he suffering a bearing that his Savior suffered.

As he is arrested and bound in chains and he will be dragged before Roman authorities, he is experiencing a similar arrest that his Savior experienced.

You can see how Paul is literally sharing in the sufferings of Christ.

This is what he means in Philippians 3 when he says that he counts all things as loss so that he may share in His sufferings, becoming like him in his death.

And why is Paul so eager to deny himself, count his life as loss, and suffer in this way?

Because he knows that just as Jesus suffered and resurrected, those who follow Christ and share in His suffering, will also share in His resurrection.

In other words, Paul can say, “I am read not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem,” because he knows that for those who know Christ, the future is bright.

And by any means possible, Paul seeks to lay hold of that bright future.

Now he knows Christ in part, but he seeks to know Him in full in the resurrection to come.

Philippians 3:14 ESV

I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

So when his friends say, “Paul—don’t press on to Jerusalem. Paul—preserve yourself. Paul—the future is bleak...”

The response of Paul’s heart is, “No, no—the future is bright if you have an eternal perspective and see everything through the lens of knowing Christ. I’ll share in His sufferings now in this bleak life, because I know that eternal prize of the upward call of God is mine in Christ Jesus.”

Now, lest we drift into thinking otherwise, Paul is not trying to earn the his place in the resurrection of the righteous on the Day when Christ returns through his suffering.

He is abundantly clear with the Philippians that when it comes to himself, he does not have a “righteousness from God that comes from the Law.”

There is no good work Paul can do, including suffering in Jerusalem, to earn favor with God.

But Christ, who is Paul’s ultimate gain, has already provided Him with His righteousness by faith.

He has gained Christ by faith.

And knowing he has gained Him, and knowing that the bright future of resurrection is promised to him, there is nothing he won’t count as loss in order to touch his inheritance.

Here is how he said it to the Romans:

Romans 8:17 ESV

and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Participating in suffering comes before participating in glory.

There is humiliation before exaltation.

It was this way with Jesus and it will be this way with His disciples.

But any sort of daunting bleakness we face in the here and now will soon give way to a brightness that is unparalleled and unmatched in all the space of eternity.

So ultimately, we can say that Paul is willing to shed self-preservation because of the brightness of future resurrection.

He is willing to deny himself and take up his cross and go to Jerusalem because he knows that Christ has already taken up His Cross and won the day for Paul.

Now, the life of faith that Paul lives as a redeemed man is one of diligent pursuit and perseverance.

Whatever the cost may be.

APPLICATION

Do you always find yourself running from the prospect of discomfort and suffering?

Is your first reaction to potential sacrifice for Christ a knee-jerk list of justifications as to why you don’t need to really do what God is calling you to do?

Do you feel blinded by the bleakness of the present age?

If your answers to these questions tend to be “Yes,” then may I suggest that you simply need to look beyond present circumstances and look to the brightness of your future, which Christ has secured?

Sometimes preachers get in pulpits and say things like, “If you aren’t willing to suffer for Christ, you aren’t a Christian!”

Well, I don’t know that we have to jump right to that today.

But I do think we can say, “If you are regularly unwilling to bear reproach for the Gospel’s sake, maybe you’ve lost track of Christ has done and won for you.”

If you are drawn like a magnet to self-preservation and comfort, a good dose of reading your Bible will help.

Tracing over passages like Philippians 3 and Romans 8.

Be reminded by the Holy Spirit, through the Word, who you live for and who has lived and died for you.

Be reminded of the prize of the upward call.

Be reminded of the resurrection future promised to you.

Suddenly, the prospect of suffering now turns into light moment affliction, in light of the future weight of glory.

CONCLUSION

Maybe that is what was on the mind of the spicy monk-priest as he stood trial at Worms and was called on to recant his writings.

For those of us, who like Paul and like Luther, have found the greatest gain in Christ, and are sure that suffering brought on by self-denial will give way to resurrection, let us join in and say:

I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem.

Let us say:

Here I stand, I can do no other, so help me God. Amen.