A Fallen Response to God’s Plan

Introduction

Scripture

Father God, we thank You for Who You are. A great Big God who sees each and every one of us here and cares deeply about us. We ask this day, as we are continuing in this time of worship to You, reading Your Word and hearing Your Word, that You refine us with it. Mold us, make us, shape us, rearrange us so that we can more like You, and more made into the image of Christ. Help us be a people who love You and love others so much, that we are moved into action by whatever it is You are going to show us about Yourself today and what that means in our lives. Help us do this, because all to often our selfish and sinless flesh war against our will to follow Yours. As we are doing this, and as we are coming into Your Word today, we ask that You take away any distraction that we may have, and make it go as far away as it possible can, because we want to see and we want to know You better. It’s in these things that I ask and in Jesus Christ’s Holy and precious name that I pray, Amen.

17 When we reached Jerusalem, the brothers and sisters welcomed us warmly. 18 The following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present. 19 After greeting them, he reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.

20 When they heard it, they glorified God and said, “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law. 21 But they have been informed about you—that you are teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to abandon Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or to live according to our customs.

22 So what is to be done?[c] They will certainly hear that you’ve come. 23 Therefore do what we tell you: We have four men who have made a vow. 24 Take these men, purify yourself along with them, and pay for them to get their heads shaved. Then everyone will know that what they were told about you amounts to nothing, but that you yourself are also careful about observing the law. 25 With regard to the Gentiles who have believed, we have written a letter containing our decision that[d] they should keep themselves from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from what is strangled, and from sexual immorality.”26 So the next day, Paul took the men, having purified himself along with them, and entered the temple, announcing the completion of the purification days when the offering would be made for each of them.

Context

Now, Paul and company has returned from this missionary trip and found their way back to Jerusalem. Paul knew that hard times were very very near to him, as did everyone else; as The Holy Spirit had revealed several times that Paul would soon be arrested and handed over to the gentiles. While yes, this time was coming very very soon, that was not just yet. Right now, Paul was to put the cap end on his 3rd missionary journey, and give a report to the Jerusalem church and the elders their of what happened all along the way, as well as give their monetary love offering for those suffering in the Christian Church in Jerusalem. So, that is just what he does in today’s text.

For all the good that was done all throughout Paul’s ministry to the gentiles (people of non-Jewish decent), one thing was clear; that God was in it, He was for it, and He was at work through Paul all through. All along the way, on this missionary journey, we saw new churches be planted, thousands become born again followers of Jesus Christ, and those believers would show maturity in their faith lives and grow more and more. Despite all this good, and despite the clear indications that God was at work and the elders of the church in Jerusalem fully supported and fully allowed everything that Paul did along the way, still people were opposed. In fact, it wasn’t just the non converted Jews, but the Jews who had been converted and followers of Jesus as well.

These people were still caught up in their pride and sin and refused to accept that salvation was for the gentiles as well, and this meant that God had changed everything. No longer were the ways of the Jewish people of old the only way to salvation, no God had fulfilled those and everyone opposed to this and the work Paul had done, was in that moment opposed to God. These people were blinded by their hate, their prejudice, and their favoritism of how things had always been, as we can be too when we hold onto hate, prejudice, and favoritism of any kind of sin at that matter. What i’m telling you is to Know that sin will blind you and others to God’s plan. So, you should examine yourself and your blind spots and expect as you go into the world that everyone else will have blind spots as well. Expect that both you and others will have fallen responses to God’s Plan, no matter how good your or anyone else's intentions may be. So, lets jump in and From the text, I want you to see and do these actions as you go into a world that often has a fallen response to God’s Plan.

Message

The first action to see and do is to: Share testimonies with others 17-19

17 When we reached Jerusalem, the brothers and sisters welcomed us warmly. 18 The following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present. 19 After greeting them, he reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.

So, as mentioned before, the team reaches Jerusalem, and they were welcomed in very warmly, as you would expect for these beloved coworkers in the Gospel of Christ. The next day, the team would go to the elders (led by James/the half brother of Jesus/ and the author of the book of James) and gave them reports of everything that happened. They gave detailed reports, sharing how through the gentiles (meaning people who were not of Jewish heritage) had grown the kingdom much wider and much larger than we have expected. They gave accounts of how in town after town, our God was working in a big way in places we would have never thought He would be. These towns that our people would have turned their nose up to, by in large turned towards the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ much more readily then us Jews, who should have been the first to turn towards Him. God was there, and He has proven to us that He is truly the God of everyone and everything.

So, what where they doing here? We would call it today that they were giving a missionary report and sharing testimonies of the Triumphs of Jesus and His grace on their lives and the places they went and shared the gospel to. Can I just say what we all know? Testimonies go a long way. Just think about it, with the availability that we have for other customer testimonies of products we buy through customer reviews, we can easily know whether a product is good quality or is junk. We can know through someone’s testimony in court, whether a person is innocent or guilty. They can encourage people who have worked hard, weather what they are doing is good or bad. They hold us accountable, when we are supposed to have them, making sure that we are paying attention enough to share them with others.

Brothers and sisters, can I share you with you a personal shortfall that I have? You know how every week, at the end of service we have a brief time of testimony sharing, this of course is done because it is beneficial for everyone sharing and everyone listening. Sometimes, we need to encourage others with our testimony, sometimes we need to encourage others, sometimes we need be accountable before God. Ok, so here it is. For me, if I ever can’t find something about God each week to share with others, it’s for a few bad reasons. 1, I wasn’t looking for God that week, so I didn’t notice Him at work. 2, I cared about myself much more than others and either didn’t want to share about God’s goodness. And or 3, my faith was wavering in the week and somewhere along the way I believed the lie that God wasn’t good. All of these of course, is a personal sin that requires deep reflection and repenting of. Maybe these are some of your problems as well, maybe you have something, maybe you often share testimonies. Let me challenge you this day believer, look for God good and hard this week, and He will show you something that you can’t help but share for everyone’s benefit. As you do this, Know that sin will blind you and others to God’s plan. So remind yourself of the goodness of God’s plan and see it working out before you and share testimonies with others, both inside and outside of the church. Don’t have a fallen world’s reaction to God’s good plan, rejoice in it and share it as much as you can.

Another action to see and do is to: Be aware of people’s sin 20-21

20 When they heard it, they glorified God and said, “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law. 21 But they have been informed about you—that you are teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to abandon Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or to live according to our customs.

The elders here had exactly the right reaction, when they heard of everything that had happened on Paul’s journey. However, their was one thing in town that needed to be addressed while Paul was here, for the sake of his own safety, the church’s safety, and keeping peace among the believers. It seems at the time, many of the Jews that had come to believe in the Lord Jesus, and even some of the others, had heard wicked and false lies. These were that Paul was not a Jew that cared for the traditions and ways of their people, who went about sharing the good news wrongly. There is much to say about this pent up hatred, and many things we can say caused it or were related, but what is really important is that hatred for another follower of Christ in your heart is not from God, but from Satan who is trying to destroy or weaken the flock. He often does this by attacking believers in their weak spot, seeking to get a foothold anywhere he can. Here, he poked at the Jews longstanding hatred of anyone who was different from them, an institutional sense of self righteousness, and a natural mankind predisposition to hate change because it leads to unfamiliar places and situations. Here of course, was a major change in their world and world view, as now Salvation was available to anyone of any nationality who would accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Even though we shouldn’t be, if you are anything like me, when you go out and about and observe the town, the community, the nation, what is always surprising to me, and something that I have to frequently come to grips with, is that the world is full of sinners who are in desperate need of Jesus’ forgiveness, just as I am, just as you are. It so easy to go out into a world, expecting the worst and going out and trying do your own good for Christ’s sake, and then you discover that people act and respond to you in anger, disrespect and with no regard to yourself and your feeling and needs as a fellow human being, let alone their personal need for a savior. As surprising and shocking as that as always is, its important to remember after you are prayed up to go love God, Love People, and Make Disciples, that we live in a world that is completely fallen in their sin and clueless to it.

As a result, you may get called hard words like bigot, closed minded, mean, uncaring, and hateful. Meanwhile, the whole reason you may even be speaking to a person is quite the opposite. In that moment, that WILL happen to you, let me urge you to take a deep breath before you say or do anything. Because you to are a sinner who has your own sin to be aware of in that moment and in that moment of personal attack, be it fair or unfair, you are personally accountable before God for how you act, respond, and show Christ’s loving witness. When that happens, remember these words from Christ, Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. In that moment, where you want to strike either with your words or with your fists, answer this question first, do you want to be “Right” by human standards, or do you want to be “blessed, well spoken/thought of” by God? The choice is clear. So, Know that sin will blind you and others to God’s plan. Don’t let sin blind your good witness, and be prepared by being aware of people’s sin.

The next action to see and do is to: Have a heart for Peace 22-26

22 So what is to be done?[c] They will certainly hear that you’ve come. 23 Therefore do what we tell you: We have four men who have made a vow. 24 Take these men, purify yourself along with them, and pay for them to get their heads shaved. Then everyone will know that what they were told about you amounts to nothing, but that you yourself are also careful about observing the law. 25 With regard to the Gentiles who have believed, we have written a letter containing our decision that[d] they should keep themselves from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from what is strangled, and from sexual immorality.”26 So the next day, Paul took the men, having purified himself along with them, and entered the temple, announcing the completion of the purification days when the offering would be made for each of them.

So, knowing that unpeaceful events were to come one way or another, the elders and Paul came up with an idea to show everyone that Paul was still one of them and still took Jewish customs and culture very seriously. So, they had Paul take a nazarite vow and take 4 other men with him who were also under the vow, and take them to the temple and pay the fee for them. Make no mistake, Paul was never wrong and the accusations him were misguided and out of context, the elders and James affirmed this, as it was all the apostles and elders who had previously wrote the letter (found in acts 15), that would be good for the gentiles to follow, to which Paul had seen through well and fulfilled the councils wishes with distinction. So, in the spirit of keeping peace, Paul went to the temple to show his love for the Jewish people and that he was a faithful and practicing Jew who had found the savior.

This idea, of having a heart for peace, especially in our nation, is now critical for Christians in all places and walks of life. Why? Well, you probably know, but there was just a big election and the incumbent party lost in a big way. What’s more, at the previous election, by in large (at least in the media) Christianity did not do a good job of keeping the peace, and we gave the world many good reasons to not want to have anything to do with our religion, so Christ’s witness was damaged and a great many so called believers committed horrible and selfish sins that need clear and nationally seen repentance. The world watched, and unfortunately, The American Church did not show it’s disapproval of hatred, selfishness, unpeaceful situations, and mockery. Of course their are exceptions, but that is not the image of Christ we left the world. There is no room for these kinds of actions in a mature followers of Jesus’ life.

Listen to what the Bible tells us. You just heard the words of Jesus, blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Jesus also said in John’s Gospel that we are to have and be a people of peace in John 16:33. In 2nd Thessalonians Paul writes and calls Jesus, “The Lord of Peace.” He also wrote to Christians to: 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Give careful thought to do what is honorable in everyone’s eyes. 18 If possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Friends, do not avenge yourselves; instead, leave room for God’s wrath, because it is written, Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay,[d] says the Lord. Furthermore, the Lord Jesus Himself, the Lord of Peace has said that He has left us His peace Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. So, as it is Christ’s clear example and explicit command, have a heart for peace and seek it everywhere. Don’t be fooled, this is not an easy assignment. No, we are fighting a battle of the spirit that cannot be won with the weapons and tactics of the flesh, but rather of the weapons of God, which your homework was to read and think about this past from week Ephesians chapter 4. Know that sin will blind you and others to God’s plan. Don’t give into that sin, and instead have a heart for and of peace as Jesus have given you. Do not have a fallen response to God’s plan here.

Conclusion

So, what then is God’s plan? Here it is. That even though the world would try to separate itself from God, that God in His mercy would provide the way and means that anyone who desires a relationship with Him can be restored back to a perfect relationship with Him, through the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. God’s plan is that He would make the needed sacrifice for us, because we could do nothing good enough to make up for the evil in our hearts. God’s plan is to love you so much, that he offers you forgiveness for your chosen separation from Him, if you would take this. This plan, is for the whole world, for anyone who hears the good news of salvation and would take it. Without accepting that free gift of salvation, a person is fallen and doomed to eternal separation from God in hell. Do not be like the world beloved. On top of accepting Jesus’ offer of forgiveness, remember and do these things as you go out, Share testimonies with others, to everyone’s benefit. Be aware of people’s sin, including your own. And Have a heart for Peace that rejects playing into the games and weapons of the enemy. Seek God’s way instead, and no real harm can come to you. As Martin Luther’s famous Hymn “A mighty Fortress is our God” goes, our body they may kill, but God’s truth abideth still. His Kingdom is forever. So, with forever in mind, do not have a fallen response to God’s Plan, but one of a child of God.

With all of that being said, I would be remised if I didn’t share the Gospel (or the Good News) of Jesus Christ with you today, for the benefit of both believer and non-believer in the room. This begins all the way back at the beginning, God created everything, and he created all things good. He gave His most treasured creation (us, mankind) the ability of free will, the ability to choose Him or rebellion. Man was deceived by Satan and desired to be like God and sinned (or rebelled against God). This brought the curse of sin and death into the world and it remains with us to this day; which separates us from God. God though, loved His creation (mankind) so much that He worked through history to redeem all mankind that would turn to Him from sin so that we can experience a full and perfect relationship with Him again. This was through the perfect and final sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the pay for sins. Accepting this free gift from God, makes you new and forgiven. All you have to do accept this free gift by repenting and believing in the Lord Jesus and you will get to experience the good side of God’s justice forever. So, now that you know this, you can no longer plead ignorance. I invite and urge you to respond today non-believer and apply this to every part of your life believers in the audience today.

With that, Let’s conclude. Brothers and Sisters, I love you all. During our last song together, if you need prayer, or want to talk more about Jesus, or have something you want to talk about, I’ll be here, don’t be afraid to come on down. Let’s pray. Father God, we thank You for who You are and what You are doing to us here in this place. May whatever it is that You are doing in each of heart here, continue as we leave go out into the world this week. Change us, mold us, make us, re-arrange us, that we can be both better lovers of You and better showers of You. It’s in these things that I ask and in Jesus Christ’s Holy and precious name that I pray, Amen.