Last week we explored the topic of following through on decisions. Usually it is easier to make decisions than to follow through on them. We say “yes” or decide on a course of action, then we discover all the obstacles. Sometimes we acknowledge that what we are about to do will be hard. A friend reminds us that what we have undertaken will not be easy, that what we are planning to do will be tough. We agree. “Yes, I know you’re right, but I am ready!” Then, when we get into the middle of the situation , we say. “I knew it was going to be hard, but this is so much more difficult than I imagined. I can’t believe how hard it is.”
Remember Natalie’s swim across Lake Ontario? Before the swim she was confident she could make it. She knew it would be difficult. She expected it. Yet at about 2:00 a.m. in the morning, surrounded by darkness, so cold her body was shaking, she began to have second thoughts. “Can I make it? Do I have what it takes? This is harder than I thought.” She would not have made it without the support of her coach and friends who stayed with her during that dark time.
On Tuesday I had a small wedding at the church. Before any wedding, I meet with the couple to help them prepare for the road ahead. I tell them they will face difficulties. Every couple agrees. Yet they are convinced ( and I am glad they are) that whatever comes their way, they will stay together. But we know the story... Marriage is more difficult, many times, than anyone can understand until they are in the middle of one of those tough situations that marriage can bring.
Follow through is difficult. What we noted last week is that follow through requires determination and courage. Both are essential to follow through but there are times when determination and courage are not enough.
The apostle Paul had great determination and courage. He followed through on his journey to Jerusalem because he was determined to do what he believed God was calling him to do. He moved forward with determination and courage knowing that what he would experience in Jerusalem would not be pleasant, or fun, or inspirational or personally rewarding. If the other believers were right, there would be few blessings and lots of pain. It takes courage to follow through even though we know the results will be painful.
After Paul arrived in Jerusalem he listened to the church leaders. They were worried about Paul’s presence. Their goal was to prove that Paul still followed the practices of the Jewish faith. They wanted the other Jewish Christians to know that the Jewish faith was still important in Paul’s thinking. They asked Paul to participate in the temple rite of purification and pay for four Jewish believers going through the same purification rite. It was to be an act of good will on the part of Paul to show he had not discarded the Jewish faith.
Paul submitted to the church leaders. He understood that there were two faces to the Christian church. There was the Jewish believers who grew up as Jews and who were continuing the practices of their childhood faith. There were also Gentile believers to whom the Jewish faith was foreign. What was required of Gentile believers was addressed in Acts 15. It was also restated in Acts 21:25: “As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality.”
The result is catastrophic. Paul was seen in the temple with these four men by Jews from Asia. Paul’s participation in temple worship proved nothing to them. Their mistrust of Paul was such that they thought only evil when they saw Paul with four other men in the temple courts. They accused Paul of bringing Gentiles into the temple area. The city went into crisis mode. Paul was dragged out of the temple area. The gates to the temple were closed. If Paul had actually done what they said he had done the temple area was unclean and would need to be cleansed before anyone could re-enter this holy space.
Anyone here ever been misunderstood? What does it feel like? It is especially difficult when people interpret your actions or words in exactly the opposite way you intended. Paul’s best efforts, done in submission to the leaders of the Jerusalem church, totally collapsed. Exactly what the leaders were afraid of, and what Paul was doing his best to avoid, happened.
Misunderstanding was only the beginning. Misunderstandings bring consequences. Paul was dragged out of the temple area. People tried to kill him. We read 21: 30-32 “...They dragged him from the temple, and immediately the gates were shut. While they were trying to kill him, news reached the commander of the Roman troops... When the rioters saw the commander and his soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.”
I have never been beaten up. I am not sorry that so far I have missed the experience. For those who have gone through the experience, it is humiliating, debilitating and leaves a person feeling devoid of a sense of self worth. Not only do physical wounds have to heal but emotional and psychological wounds are in need of healing as well.
I think there were so many people trying to punch and kick Paul at once that few solid punches or kicks landed. Everybody was off balance as they pushed each other in their effort to get at Paul who was on the ground before them. As a result Paul was still conscious and had enough strength after being rescued from the mob to ask the commander if he could speak. Paul still wants to redeem the situation.
Paul shares his testimony. He wants the people who just tried to kill him to hear the story of Jesus and understand that just a few years ago he was just like them. That was before he encountered Christ on the Damascus road. As well he wants to clear up the misunderstanding, calling them his “brothers and fathers.”
The crowd listens until the word Gentile was mentioned. Then they began to shout and scream for his death. The commander orders Paul to be taken into the barracks and flogged. Paul’s Roman citizenship saved him from the flogging.
The Commander is confused. He wants to understand the issue so he orders Paul to stand before the Jewish ruling body, the Sanhedrin. This time there are people who side with Paul but chaos results. Paul finds himself alone in prison, misunderstood, hated by his own people, and physically sore from the beating he sustained.
How do you think he is feeling? Can you put yourself in his shoes for a moment? I can hear Paul saying, “I knew it was going to be tough going to Jerusalem, but this is unbelievable. I have been rejected. My best intentions were misconstrued. Nobody will listen to me.” He might even have said, “Nobody likes me.” I think at this point, Paul was such a lightning rod for hostility against the Christian faith in Jerusalem that even the Christian leaders feared having contact with him. Once before the leaders were only too happy to escort Paul out of town. Because of his ministry to the Gentiles Paul spelled trouble for the Jerusalem church.
I think it is fair to conclude that Paul is feeling down. It is hard to feel encouraged when everything you do to rectify a situation fails and you experience rejection. He may even have had second thoughts. “Maybe I should have listened to those who warned me not to come to Jerusalem. I have accomplished nothing here. In fact, I’ve made the situation worse for my friends. Maybe I heard wrong or understood incorrectly what God was trying to say to me.” These things happen you know. Sometimes we interpret incorrectly what we think God is asking us to do or not do. God never makes a mistake but our understanding of what God may be saying can be wrong. I can hear Paul saying. “But I was so sure I was doing what you wanted yet nothing positive is taking place.”
Let me suggest to you that in Paul’s thinking at least, determination and courage had not had the results Paul desired. Paul was sitting in prison powerless to affect his own future. He was a captive. His future looked dim. But it was at this point God intervened: “The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, “Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome (Acts 21:11).”
Think about it for a moment. Alone, rejected, despairing, with little prospects for any king of a future. Then you hear from the Lord. “Take courage! You do have a future. I am going to use you to testify for me in Rome.” Now I’m not sure I would like that to be just like in Jerusalem. That doesn’t sound all that hopeful. But it is God who is present. It is God who was speaking to Paul. Even if nothing turns out right, it is wonderful to experience the presence of God. New energy begins to flow into this battered and imprisoned saint.
Paul needed an encouraging word. Why? Because the next word he received was not so encouraging. 40 men planned a conspiracy to get Paul. They made a vow that they would neither drink nor eat until they had killed him. Their plan sounded great. The Sanhedrin was to ask for another meeting with Paul. While the Romans were bringing him to the hearing, these men would ambush the contingent and kill Paul.
It seemed to be a fool proof plan, but it was not God proof. Paul’s nephew, the son of Paul sister, overheard the plan. This courageous young man visits Paul to tell him of the plot. One of the centurions guarding Paul was willing to take the young man to the commander.
Look with me to the response of the commander. I love this verse. God was at work. “The commander took the young man by the hand, drew him aside and asked, “What is it you want to tell me?” Can you picture the scene? One of the most powerful men in Jerusalem, a man with a thousand concerns takes the young man by the hand and listens to his story. (As an aside, children often have important things to say. We need to disengage ourselves from the things we think are important long enough to listen to the younger ones who want to speak. God may have an important message he wants us to hear and it may come through the voice of a child.)
The commander dismissed the young man, told him to tell no one what he had just told the commander and, by implication, said he would look after the matter.
Everyone had done what they could. Now it was up to the commander to follow through. If you read the rest of chapter 23 you will see the commander acted quickly on Paul’s behalf.
I wonder what happened to the 40 men. Do you think they broke their vow not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul? They must have wondered what had happened!
What had happened was that God had intervened. God was not finished with Paul. He wanted Paul in Rome and used a young man and a Roman commander to advance his plan.
This morning maybe you have found that you have come to the end of your determination and courage. You have no more strength. It is not a comfortable place to be but it is not a bad place to be. It is often when we are at our weakest, maybe our most confused state of mind, that God is ready to speak. Admit you are at the end of your strength. Take some time to listen for God. Listen by reading the scriptures. Be quiet before God. Write down your thoughts and ideas as you listen for God. God does speak through his word and through his Spirit. He does love you. He will not abandon you.
He also sends people our way. We do need one another. To determination and courage we need to add the encouragement, support and resources of others.
Downstairs the application for the children is that everybody is important in the eyes of God. You are important to him. He wants to use you to advance his Kingdom. But like the young man we have to have the courage to act, to tell our story and then to trust God to work out his plan. The young man did what he could. Then he had to leave the results in the sovereign hands of God.
You and I cannot do everything. Sometimes we may feel overwhelmed by what we know deep inside we should do. But if we do what we know we should do and if we do in courage and trust what God wants us to do, God will use us for his Kingdom in ways we cannot imagine. (For example. invite someone to Alpha, volunteer in our children’s ministry or KSC Youth, join a small group . . .)
God’s plans are not thwarted by mobs, by extreme unbelief or conspiracies. He sent his Spirit to encourage the discouraged and use our acts of courage to further his kingdom.