Misunderstandings

Bible Passage: Acts 21:27-36

[ 000 ] If you’re a guest with us this morning, we’re going through the book of Acts verse by verse, chapter by chapter, and we are following the story of the Apostle Paul as he closes in on the end of his ministry, and eventually the end of his life. And I don’t have time to recap everything, but the basics you need to know for this morning’s text are these [ 001 ] two things:

Paul headed for Jerusalem with the full knowledge that he would be met with trouble when he got there.

Submitting to the request of the Jerusalem Church, Paul was asked to participate in a purification custom at the Temple with four other men.

[ 002 ] 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.

According to the law of Moses, in Numbers 19, this vow requires the participant to take a bath on Day 3 and again on Day 7, and then he’s purified. So Paul has apparently helped these men do what they need to do on day 3, and it is day seven that is now (Bock).

[ 003 ] When the seven days were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw him in the temple, stirred up the crowd and seized him…

This is the part that stings a little, and where we’ll be hanging out for a little bit. The people who are stirring up trouble are the Jews from [004 ] the Roman province of Asia. And I know that’s confusing for us, because Asia is now a continent. But this is typically called Asia Minor, or the modern day country of Turkey. That’s one of the regions where Paul has been working so hard for the gospel, spending the last three years of his life in Ephesus.

Remember – Paul always goes to the synagogues first when he gets to a new city, and in Romans 9, he explains why – The Israelites have the adoption by God, the glory of being his chosen people, they have the covenants, the law, the temple, the promises, the ancestors – and most of all – the Messiah is physically one of them!

The Jews are the people who are just so close already. They just need to know and believe that Jesus is the Messiah they have been waiting for!

But it’s also been the Jews that have given Paul the most trouble in all of his missionary journeys so far. Wherever Paul ends up, he looks first for the Jews – and the Jews almost always reject him. So it would appear that some of these Jews who have given Paul trouble over the past 8 chapters of Acts in Ephesus, Lystra, Antioch, and Iconium have made their way to Jerusalem for Pentecost as well, and when they found Paul at the end of the purification vows…

They… stirred up the whole crowd, and seized him, [ 005-1 ] shouting, “Fellow Israelites, help!

This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people, our law, and this place.

[ 005-2 ] What’s more, he also brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.”

One commentator describes this crowd as coming together quickly, “with their emotions running at full speed, and their brains in neutral” (Wiersbe, 1:491). [ 006-1 ] There are two accusations they are bringing against Paul.

This is the accusation we looked at last week, where they accuse Paul of telling Jews they need to become Gentiles in order to follow Jesus. They are accusing Paul of telling Jews that the customs and purifications and everything that makes them Jewish need to stop when they become believers. The reason their brains are in neutral is because while they are accusing Paul of this, obviously he is right this very moment, in the Temple carrying out one of the Jewish customs, like the law requires!

It would be people dragging someone to the DNR going, hey we found this guy who hates deer hunters. He’s always protesting hunters, saying don’t hunt, take their guns away. Oh really, where did you find this guy? In a tree stand, hunting, with a gun.

Doesn’t make sense. But that’s the first accusation. The second one is that…

[ 006-2 ]…they are accusing Paul of bringing Greeks (non-Jews, Gentiles) into the temple. Verse 29 says They saw Paul walking around town with a Gentile from Ephesus, and just assumed that Paul probably brought him into the temple.

Now if you’re new to the Bible, the Temple here in Jerusalem has several areas for people to gather. [ 007 ] You can see the Gentile’s courtyard is the wide open area just inside the walls. Then inside the inner temple complex was the court of women, the smaller area on the bottom half, and the court of Israelites on the top half. Only Israelite men could go there and interact with the priests who offered sacrifices in the Holy Place there in the official Temple.

These Jews noticed that Paul had been walking around the city with Trophimus, a Gentile from Ephesus, and they believe Paul has done the unthinkable. He brought a Gentile into the court of Israelites. That would defile the whole Temple. And once again, it leads back to accusation number 1: Paul doesn’t respect the Jewish people, he doesn’t respect their laws, and doesn’t respect the Temple.

Of course, if you’re a devout Jew in that day, this is the worst possible scenario that could ever happen and [ 008 ] everyone panics: The whole city was stirred up, and the people rushed together. They seized Paul, dragged him out of the temple, and at once the gates were shut.

If we go back to the picture, [ 009 ] They want to kill Paul, but wouldn’t want to desecrate their own Holy Place with a dead body, so they drag him out of the Temple, through the court of women – at least into the Gentile court if not all the way outside. And verse 31, as they were trying to kill Paul, the ruckus caught the attention of the Roman soldiers that were stationed in the Antonia Fortress there at the top right. The word went up to them – because they are in a tower – and the commander and his soldiers ran down to them. Can you visualize this?

A centurion is in charge of 100 soldiers, so the fact that centurions is plural here means there are at least 200 soldiers rushing to the scene, which explains verse 32 [ 010-1 ] : Seeing the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. [ 010-2 ]Then the commander approached, took him into custody, and ordered him to be bound with two chains. He asked who he was and what he had done.

The Jews aren’t even trying to hide what their intentions are. According to the warning signs at the Temple, if it’s true that Paul brought a Gentile into the court, Trophimus is the one who should die. But they have gathered around Paul and are attempting to beat him to death. By the time the Roman military shows up, it’s only then that the Jews stop beating Paul, so you have to imagine that quite a few blows have landed already. Paul could be bleeding, probably an eye swollen shut. A few minutes later, and Paul would have been dead.

[ 011 ] By now, verse 34 a crowd has gathered around the commotion, most of them don’t know what happened, and soon everyone is shouting something different, to the point where the Roman commander can’t even understand or figure out what exactly is happening. So he orders that the soldiers move Paul indoors to get away from the crowd.

But before the soldiers could even carry out the order, the crowd became so violent that…

[ 012 ] When Paul got to the steps, he had to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the crowd, for the mass of people followed, yelling, “Get rid of him!”

That’s where we’ll stop for today – leaving Paul with people shouting for his execution.

Paul has got some major things happening to him here: 1) The people he worked hard to bring the gospel to have rejected him. And 2) he’s being wrongly accused of things that are definitely not true, and 3), and now they want his head on a platter. Hopefully no one can identify with that last one, where people are literally wanting you dead, but many of us have experienced those first two.

Maybe you had a friend or family member that you invested a lot of time into… you hung out a lot, you shared a lot, you trusted them, only to find them turn on you or ignore you or treat you like you don’t exist anymore. You thought you were close, but you felt betrayed. Maybe they even accused you of something you didn’t do – there was a misunderstanding, they bought into some gossip, and instead of coming to you for the truth, they went behind your back.

Maybe you’re a parent with adult children, and you feel like one of your own children has turned on you. They don’t want much to do with you, and accuse you of things you did or didn’t do – maybe they think you parented them wrongly, or bring up things you thought were forgiven. Maybe some of their accusation is actually true - you weren’t a believer at the time, you admitted your sins against them, but they don’t even want to hear your apology.

Maybe you’re a student in middle school or high school, and you feel like your friends have left you hanging. They used to like hanging out with you, but not anymore. They seem to have a lot more fun with other people when you’re not around. You show up to a conversation and things get weird. You feel betrayed and talked about.

Maybe for those of you who are married, you invested a lot of time, a lot of energy, a lot of love, and it suddenly feels like they are more against you than they are for you. What started as fireworks now feels more like a lighter that’s almost out of juice, without much of a flame. Maybe your spouse even ended up in another relationship of one kind or another, and you felt like Paul, you’d been left for dead.

Or maybe it’s nothing in any of those categories – maybe it’s a situation more like the one Paul is in, where the very people you’ve been trying to share the gospel with just shoot you down, make fun of you, and talk behind your back. You desperately want them to know Jesus, to know the grace and the peace that you have come to know – you desperately want them to know the fullness of community and joy that’s found in the Church – but you just get the cold shoulder and a few jokes.

Those are all heavy things, and I don’t in any way want to oversimplify them. But I’m convinced that in all of those situations, we tend to head one direction or the other. [ 013 ] One direction is that we…

DOUBT GOD’S GOODNESS – This is the angle the enemy has been taking from the very beginning of time. If you grew up around the Bible, you can probably quote Genesis 3 word for word, but check this out, from Genesis 3:1–8 “Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’ ” “No! You will certainly not die,” the serpent said to the woman. “In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it…”

Pastor Matt Chandler points out that the serpent there in the garden of Eden didn’t tempt the woman with food – “hey you’re hungry, aren’t you – try some of this! Doesn’t it look so good? You should try it.” Why not? Because she was living in the largest fruit buffet on earth! Every tree in the Garden was hers to eat, except for one. She wasn’t hungry. She didn’t need more fruit.

He couldn’t tempt her with a better marriage – it was the most pure, wholesome, and holy marriage that has ever existed.

He couldn’t tempt her with a better job – She and Adam had the greatest job on the planet, walking and working directly with God.

He couldn’t tempt her with a better house, or a better garden – God himself planted this for them.

The serpent had one move: Try to get her to believe that the Almighty God who had given her EVERYTHING was NOT actually good at heart. “Did God really say you can’t eat that? Wow. Doesn’t sound like the kind of God who would be good. He told you you would die? Wow. It’s actually the opposite. You’ll be as wise as him. He’s actually holding out on you.”

In our situations today, his voice sounds like, “What kind of God would give you a spouse like that? If he really loved you, he would have given you one like this. Or like that. So here’s the deal – if you just look at pornography or start up an emotional relationship online or at work with someone else – you’re not going to die. God’s not going to kill you for trying to find some happiness in life. In fact the opposite. He knows that person on the screen, or that person at the office, or that person online is going to satisfy you in a way your spouse doesn’t. God is holding out on you by having you be with the person you’re with; the job you have; the kids you have; the parents you have; the story you have; the past you have; the teacher you have. What Kind of God would let this sort of thing happen to you?”

Paul, what kind of God would let you be attacked by the very people you’re there to help? Doesn’t seem very loving of him to tell you to “go into all the world and make disciples” and then have those people reject you and try to beat you to death, and scream for the Romans to finish the job.

Paul could conclude that right now. How could you let this happen to me God? How could you possibly be good? And yet, that hasn’t been Paul’s heart for the last two chapters. He knew he would face trials, and no matter how hard people tried to get him to stay away from the city, he went anyway. Why? [ 014 ] Because the opposite of doubting God is good is trusting that he is.

2. TRUST GOD’S GOODNESS – Your other option is that you trust God’s goodness. We’re going to the book of James for this, and if you know your Bible, you already know where I’m going. The book of James opens with the introduction, more or less the author saying, Hi everybody, I’m James, servant of God. [ 015 ] Next verse. Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, and here’s why – because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.

Consider it a great joy when (not if, but when) you experience various trials. Why? Not because being gossiped about or wrongly accused or rejected and abandoned or suffering incredible physical pain should be fun, but because God is working something in YOU through that trial. God is building something in you. And James points it out – [ 016 ]

“The testing of your faith produces endurance.”

In our culture, this is water flowing uphill for us today, right? That goes against everything in our natural mindset. Endurance? Are you kidding me? Those are runners who run marathons. Long distances. Crazy people like Preston who run when it’s cold and raining, AND when it’s too hot to breathe. Endurance?! Gross.

When I talk to engaged couples in pre-marriage counseling sessions, I often remind them that we life in a fast-food world. You pull up to a speaker, order your food, and by the time you get to the window and pay, it’s just about ready. You can send a text to someone in India and they get in a split second later. You can order something from Amazon and have it the next morning. And I tell these couples that in that kind of world, to sign up for marriage is to sign up for the long game. You are signing up for an endurance race in a world of 10 meter dashes.

Did you know that endurance is a key ingredient in spiritual growth? Did you know that your endurance is important to God – your ability to not run from hardship, but to say, God do your work in me through this sickness, through this struggle, through this friendship, through this persecution, through this dry spell in my life?

[ 017 ] James goes on in verse 12, Blessed is the one who endures trials, because when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

As Paul is being taken into custody here in Acts 21, it’s the beginning of the end for him. He’ll never be a free man again. But he knows there is a crown of life coming his way at the end of this test.

We looked at this a few weeks ago, but the story of Paul is following step for step the story of Jesus. Luke is writing in such a way that we see, if you’re going to follow Jesus, then your life is going to look like his. [ 018 ]

Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem knowing what would happen when he got there. Paul has set his face to go to Jerusalem, knowing what he would face when he got there.

Just like Jesus was wrongly accused, Paul is wrongly accused.

Just like Jesus was an innocent man who was on trial that would eventually lead to his death, Paul is also an innocent man going to trial.

Just like Jesus came to the world to reach the Jews, and was rejected, Paul is being rejected by some of the very people he worked hard to convert.

Just like Jesus faced a mob screaming “crucify him!”, Paul faces a mob screaming “get rid of him!”

Hebrews 5:8 says that even though Jesus was the Son of God, he learned obedience from what he suffered. And it was only after he was perfected by suffering that he became the Savior for everyone who obeys him.

The life of a disciple is not a “you always get healed” kind of life. It not a “things always end up the way you hoped” kind of life. It’s an endurance race when everyone else is running 10 meter dashes. And you might think, man, Rodney, you are not selling this thing of following Jesus very well. Who would want to be a Christian if that’s what it’s like?

Here’s the good news for you, from the pen of Paul himself, in a letter to the Romans. He starts by saying, if you are in Christ, [ 019-1 ] you have been filled with the Holy Spirit who helps us in our weaknesses – including one of our biggest weaknesses, which is that we don’t know what to pray for as we should. That’s great news! When I’m in a situation where I don’t know how to pray, I don’t know what to pray, I’m at the end of my words – the Holy Spirit intercedes for me, because he knows how I’m feeling, and he knows the will of God.

[ 019-2 ] Then, I’m promised in the next verses that the God who loves me is putting all the pieces of my life together in such a way that at the end of it all… when the dust settles and the water isn’t over my head anymore, I’ll look back and say, that was no fun, but I’m almost glad it happened. I wouldn’t have a right view of God’s goodness if it didn’t. I wouldn’t be so close to Jesus if he had just solved my problem the first time I asked. The person writing this verse in Romans is the very same Paul, who has gone through all kinds of trails and afflictions and persecutions and beatings and literally being left for dead who says, God is working all things together for GOOD.

But here’s where we run into trouble. Who gets to define what is “good”? You or God? Who gets to define it? Here’s the verse again – Romans 8:28 “We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” Who gets to define that word “good”? If it’s up to us, we define it as health, success, wealth, comfort, lack of conflict, right? We want God to work all things together for our success. For our comfort. Yet that’s not how God defines “good”. Look at the next verse. All things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. FOR. BECAUSE. Those he foreknew he also predestined to what? Someone read it… To be conformed to the image of his Son.

[ 019-3 ] That’s how God defines “good”. See God isn’t just sitting back watching us go about our lives. He’s working all of human history toward a purpose. The purpose that he’s working all things toward – all things: your cancer, your marriage, your children, your job, your boss, your friendships – everything you would say isn’t going well – he’s working in all of those things to make you look more like Jesus tomorrow than you did today. That’s the “good” God is working in your life!

There’s another promise sitting here in Romans 8:30, which is that those God has chosen to bring to life, he also called to himself, and those he called to himself, he washed away their record of sin – making it as if they have never sinned once and only done what is right in his eyes; and those he washed of their sin, he also sealed for eternity! From beginning to end, God is working every single detail of your story for his glory and for your good! Paul finishes out the chapter by saying, What other conclusion can we come to except that “If God is for us, who is against us?” If he gave his own Son for us, what would he hold back from us?!

[ 019-4 ] Paul goes on - Why would I worry about accusations from the Jews, when God doesn’t hold anything against me? Why would I worry about them screaming for my death, when the one person in the universe who has every right to scream for my death actually came and died for me instead, rose again, and is now interceding for me in the throne room of heaven? Are you kidding me? I’ve got the Spirit interceding for me AND Jesus interceding for me.

[ 019- 5 ] So who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

Church, what if we believed this to be true? What if every one of us who feels like our lives are difficult or falling apart grabbed onto this truth with both hands and said God, do your work in me no matter how long it takes. You saved me. You called me to yourself. I’m justified because you justified me through Christ, and I’m already sealed for heaven because you sealed me with your Spirit.

And if endurance is what you’re working in me to make me more like Jesus, then let’s go. You’re going to have to help me, because I don’t even know how or what to pray most of the time. You’re going to have to help me because I don’t think I can make it through another day of this, but I’m willing to learn from you. Make me teachable, God. As desperate as I am for this pain to go away, make me that desperate for you.

[ 020 ] You may be here this morning, and you have not trusted Christ ever – you’ve only doubted. You haven’t doubted that he’s good – You’ve doubted he exists at all. You doubt that he’s real. Or if he does, you doubt he would care about you. If he does exist, you doubt that he hears prayer or answers them. The fact that Jesus came to earth and died for sinners is all the proof you need that Jesus cares about you. You are seen, you are known by name, no detail of your life was up to random chance. And he’s not far. Even if you can barely squeak out a prayer – “Jesus help me” is good enough.

Or maybe you feel like you’ve been trusting God – you’ve prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed, waited and waited and waited, and still haven’t received the answer you wanted. Still God hasn’t come through. Let me encourage you to read your Bible. You’ll find that you are in good company. Most people in scripture who have set out to serve and love God have endured long seasons of waiting.

The question could be, okay, so should I endure my physical sickness or pray for healing? Should I endure my difficult marriage, or pray for it to change? Should I endure my job, or pray God provides a new one?

Paul Miller in his book “A Praying Life” says, if we’re going to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, the answer is yes to both. Facing his own crucifixion, Jesus prays in the Garden of Gethsemane, Father, take this cup from me. I’m asking you to choose another route if there is one. I would vote for a change in circumstances if you have one. Nevertheless, it’s not about what I want. It’s about you and your will being done on earth as it is in heaven. I’ll endure the cross with joy if that’s the only way for you to do what you’re wanting to do.

So as we go to prayer this morning, this is the time where you get to have a minute or two with the Lord. We live such busy lives, just one thing right into another, and we fill much of our downtime with videos, phones, etc. So each week, we want to give you a minute or two, before you pick up your kids, before you rush off to lunch or work or whatever activities you’re doing today, just hit the pause button and response to what the Lord has stirred in your heart this morning. Don’t rush this. Even if they start the song and you’re not finished praying, just stay in it. It’s okay.

But today, I want you to take a second and bring to mind that one thing that is just difficult right now, whatever it is. You got something in mind? [ 021 ] Then get real with the Lord. Confess where you’re at. Admit your doubts. And let him meet you with the truth of his word here on the screen.

SOURCES

Bock, Darrell L., Acts, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2007), pp. 651–56

Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996)