Well, good morning and Merry Christmas To you
guys and so fun as she said we get to sing just
Christmas carols together and familiar songs
together It is always a joy this season to be
together as a church family and focusing on the
birth of Jesus Christ and Just so you know Christmas
is just ten ten days away now so Yeah, Drew.
Yes. Come on. Yes. It's ten days away. The countdown
has begun And I know you guys are making preparations
for that as we are as a church together. Well,
let's grab our Bibles. We get to turn our attention
to God's Word this morning, which is always a
highlight of why we come together as a church
and turn to the book of Acts. We're going to
just keep going through Acts this week. In fact,
this will be the last message out of the book
of Acts for this year. Not the last message.
We would not stop in chapter 21 and not finish.
the rest of the book together but for this year
and then we'll pick it back up in January next
week we'll turn our attention to Christmas and
have a time looking at the Christmas story and
then we'll get into January and pick up in the
book of Acts from there but we're in Acts chapter
21 and this morning is an important passage of
scripture as all of scripture is but in this
in particular with dealing with unity within
the church for the advancement of the gospel.
Unity within the church for advancement of the
gospel of the gospel and At the end of this chapter
and chapter 21 the Apostle Paul gets arrested.
I know shocker, right? The Apostle Paul's arrested
again, but the interesting reason why in Acts
chapter 21 Let me just pray. Let me just read
first and then I'll pray Acts 21 We still get
verse 17 down to verse 20 together and I'll pray
for us and then we'll jump in to see all that
God has for us in this chapter. Acts 21, verse
17. When we had come to Jerusalem, the brothers
received us gladly. On the following day, Paul
went in with us to James, and all the elders
were present. After greeting them, he related
one by one the things that God had done among
the Gentiles through his ministry. And when they
heard it, They glorified God. They said to him,
you see brother, how many thousands there are
among the Jews of those who have believed. Let
me just pray for us so we, I know there's more
to this story, I guess cut us off, but give you
something to think about. Let me pray. Lord,
thank you for what we're about to study. The
Word of God. This isn't just another book pulled
off. the shelves of a library written by a mere
man. This is the Word of God. It's holy. It's
inspired. It's inerrant. And it's given to us
for us to see Jesus. It's given to us for us
to know the way of salvation. It's given to us
so that we can live a life of purpose, a life
of godliness, so that we can become more and
more like our Savior Jesus Christ. And Lord,
I pray that as we study the Word of God this
morning, that your Holy Spirit would be active
within our hearts, illuminating its truth to
us. We can't possibly know these spiritual things
apart from the work of the Spirit in our own
hearts, giving us understanding. So we pray for
that. Lord, I pray Lord that our hearts would
be transformed, that we would not just be those
who have A lot of knowledge built up in the cul
-de -sac of our brains just sitting there, but
that knowledge would have outlets and that outlets
would be fruits of righteousness. That that knowledge
would turn into praise and worship and we would
be more and more like Jesus Christ. Help us,
Lord, and we pray towards that end. In Jesus'
name, amen. Well all throughout the book of Acts
we've been studying the Apostle Paul and and
we know for sure that the Apostle Paul loved
the church When he came to know Christ, that's
what his mission was was to go out and to plant
churches Was to go back to those churches and
strengthen them to build up the leadership within
them And we can say that Paul had a deep deep
love for the church There's no question about
that And in that love for the church he knew
what was important for the church was the unity
within the church. Paul loved when a church was
unified because a unified church shows and displays
the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. This was
especially important for the early church because
the watching world would look in at this newly
formed body of believers and they would see how
unified they were around theology, how unified
they were around their practice, how unified
they were in their love for one another, and
it was a beautiful display of the gospel of Jesus
Christ. On the other side of that is if you walked
into a church or especially a newly formed believers
and all you saw was disunity and arguing and
bickering and complaining, that would not be
a very good look on Christianity. So unity was
at the the forefront and at the height of importance
when it came to the local church and especially
to the Apostle Paul in preserving Unity was in
the church Well in our passage this morning and
I I got us started there. I got us off the first
tee there This passage this morning the the threat
of disunity comes again to the church And we're
gonna see that the Apostle Paul is placed in
a difficult spot Where he would have to potentially
do something that goes against his preferences
And how he practices his faith for the attempt
of keeping and preserving unity within the church
And this is what's at stake in this passage the
unity of the church for the sake of the gospel
Now I broke up this passage for us in 17 all
the way down we're gonna go to verse 36 together
broken this down for us in three parts and I've
also kind of sprinkled in for us some principles
To help us kind of apply these things to our
lives and allow the Holy Spirit to To work on
our heart as we're growing in our knowledge and
understanding here So I wanted to have an outline
for us, but I also wanted some principles in
it But there's three main section sections here
that I want us to look at We draw out some understanding
and some principles in it and the first thing
I want us to see is this Paul's arrival and the
church's response Paul's arrival and the church's
response We just read it verse 17 when he had
come to Jerusalem The brothers received him gladly
on the following day went up Paul went up with
us to James and all the elders are present After
greeting them, he related one by one the things
that God had done among the Gentiles through
his ministry, and when they heard it, they glorified
God. So Paul had just finished his third missionary
journey, and his heart's desire was always to
get back to Jerusalem. And he wanted to go back
to Jerusalem because one of the reasons was he
had a collection of money that the churches had
brought together, and he wanted to bring that
and hand deliver it to Jerusalem. He always had
a heart to get back there and finally in verse
17 he made his way back to Jerusalem and He gets
back to Jerusalem and he reports to them all
that God had done through his ministry now This
was a a normal thing for Paul to do and in Acts
chapter 14 in verse 26 to 28 It was after the
the first missionary journey was over and he
went back to Antioch and he reported all that
God had done for them After his second missionary
journey there's a similar thing in Acts chapter
18 and verse 22 and following where he does a
similar thing where he reports back to the churches
what God had done through his ministry and now
he's doing it again. He comes to Jerusalem, he
finds the church, he finds James the head elder
of the church, they're all present there and
it says there that he reports back all these
wonderful things that God has done through his
ministry. And much has been done throughout his
missionaries, his journey, his third missionary
journey. Remember, he was in Ephesus and he was
there for three years and he was able to tell
them about the church in Ephesus, about the elders
there, the training of the elders. He was in
Philippi and he was able to talk about the church
there and how that church was built. He did so
many wonderful things. In fact, if this was a
Sunday in church and it was missionary Sunday,
it would be a Sunday that you would not want
to miss because the Apostle Paul was going to
share all the wonderful things that he had done,
that God was doing through him, and incredible
things that he had done, reporting in to the
church. This is what God has done. And look at
how they've received Him. Verse 17, when He had
come to Jerusalem, the brothers received us how?
Gladly. It means to receive with happiness and
a readiness and a willingness to receive. They
couldn't wait for the Apostle Paul to come join
them, to tell them all the wonderful things that
God had done through Him and through His ministry.
This was the reception that was given to Paul.
They wanted Paul with them. They were joyful.
They were excited. There was a warmth to their
reception. They received him gladly, wanting
to hear everything that he could tell them about
what God was doing in and around the known world.
Similar to in Philemon 1 .7, it says this, for
I derived much joy and comfort from your love,
my brother, because the hearts of the saints
have been refreshed through you. This was a time
of refreshment for Paul. A place to go and be
amongst other brothers and sisters in Christ.
This was a warm, glad reception that the church
gave to him. And this is a great principle for
us, right church? that we need to model such
a reception when people come into our church.
We need to greet them with the warmth and a one
that says, man, what a privilege it is that you
would come and join us for worship. Receiving
people gladly. Receiving people with warmth.
The Apostle Paul would tell a few different churches
that you are to greet one another with a kiss.
Now, I don't recommend that at all for our church,
by the way, but there's an idea here that there's
a warmth within the body of Christ that when
somebody comes into our presence, we say to them,
man, I am so glad you're here with us worshiping
the Lord. What's God doing in your life? Tell
me, I wanna hear. What's going on? How's God
moving? What are you learning? Receiving people
with the appropriate amount of gladness and warmth
into the service. And we get this often where
people have been a part of our church and maybe
they've moved away and they've come back and
we receive them with warmth. We have college
students who go away and come back and we receive
them back gladly. We have parents that come in
from out of town and out of state to see people,
people visiting. And what do we do church? We
receive them with gladness and warmth. Notice
the response of what they did with this information
that was given to them from the Apostle Paul.
Look at verse 20. When they heard it, what'd
they do? They glorified God. As Paul was relaying
all these stories of what God had done in his,
these missionary journeys, what did these people
do? They turned it into worship, and they glorified
God. Listen, the most God -honoring response.
to hearing what God has done in the lives of
others is to turn that into worship. You turn
that into praise. The church loved to hear these
success stories. How God was used. They loved
to hear the success of Paul in ministry. Now
let me ask you this question. When you hear of
the successes of other people, are you excited
for them and do you turn that into worship? When
you hear somebody else getting the job that you
wanted or the raise that you wanted or they retired
earlier than you thought you should have retired
and not them or their kids are. or more excellent
in different things, or they hit the ball farther
than your child, or their grandkids are better
than your grandkids, whatever it is, are you
thankful for the successes of other people? Take
it a step farther. Do you turn that into worship
and praise? Do you thank the Lord for their success
stories? Man, I love hearing a success story.
Thank you for telling me that. Let's worship
God. There's greater ways to worship God because
of what he's doing in your life. That's not a
moment to get bitter. That's not a moment to
complain. That's not a moment to become a victim.
That's a moment to say, wow, look what God is
doing in your life and let's turn that into praise.
Let's turn that into worship. Let's glorify God.
Godly, mature believers, listen, worship God
when others are successful. They thank God for
the success of other people, other families,
other churches. They don't look at the success
of other people and go, aw, woe is me. I wish
God used me. Whoa, look at all the success they
have. No, they turn that success and they hear
that and they go, wow, look what God's doing
in your life. Let's worship God. So two principles
here. Number one is this, be a warm church and
excited for what God is doing. And the second
principle is this, be someone who thanks God
for another success. Be that person. Let's be
that church I Notice what happens here They heard
it. They worship God they who's at the elders
of the church. That's who's who Paul is with
and there could be How does some say maybe up
to a hundred elders? This was a massive church
in Jerusalem The leader of that was James. We
were just told of that in verse 18, but what
happens here they said to him Let's read all
the way down to verse 26 here. They said them
you see brother How many thousands are there
among the Jews who have believed? They're all
zealous for the law And they have been told about
you what you teach all the Jews who are among
the Gentiles to forsake Moses Telling them not
to circumcise their children or walk according
to our customs verse 22 what then is to be done
They will certainly hear that you have come do
therefore what we tell you we have four men who
are under a vow these Take these men and purify
yourself among them and pay their expenses so
they may shave their heads. Thus all will know
that there is nothing in you what they have been
told about you, but that you yourself also live
in observance to the law. But as for the Gentiles
who have believed, we have sent a letter with
our judgment that they should abstain from what
has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and
from being strangled and from sexual immorality.
Then Paul took the men and the next day he purified
himself along with them went into the temple
Giving notice when the days of purification would
be fulfilled and the offering presented for each
one of them So we have here number two the elders
question and Paul's response What is the elders
question here the the elders here are saying
to him and saying hey Paul We just want you to
know that there are a number of believers Jewish
believers who are still in the city They've embraced
Christianity however They have remained deeply
committed to the ceremony law ceremonial law
of Moses Despite their Christian faith, they
found it challenging to separate themselves from
these Jewish customs. They live near the temple
and they still even offer sacrifices in the temple
and they enjoy feasts in the temple and this
is all part of their Jewish life and custom while
still believing that Jesus is the Messiah. There's
these Jews, Paul, that still highly value the
Jewish community. This is part of their identity.
This is part of their heritage. This is what
they do. This is all just part of the way that
they practice their faith. Now there's some within
that that were out for Paul and these Judaiders,
they wanted to undermine Paul and they claimed
that the Apostle Paul was teaching against and
was opposed to Judaism. They would even say that
the Apostle Paul was what was even teaching heresy
and apostasy that he was forsaking the the Jewish
customs and the Jewish traditions all together
and Alleging that he would even teach against
as it says there forsaking Moses and telling
them verse 21 telling them not to circumcise
their children or walk according to our customs
Now it's important to note this that these Jews
were believers They were still continuing in
this obedience to these ceremonies out of custom.
They were doing it out of tradition They weren't
doing it as a means of salvation These practices
weren't considered sinful. They just had a hard
time breaking away from some of these Jewish
traditions and some of these Jewish customs and
Now they were attacking the Apostle Paul as if
he was one teaching against them Warren Wearsby
says this Why were so many believing Jews still
clinging to the law of Moses? Had they not read
Romans and Galatians? Probably not And even if
they had, old customs are difficult to change.
In fact, one day God would have to send a special
letter to the Jews, the epistle to the Hebrews,
to explain the relationship between the old and
new covenants. As Dr. Donald Gray Barnhouse used
to say, the book of Hebrews was written to the
Hebrews to tell them to stop being Hebrews. It
was not until the city and the temple were destroyed
in 8070 that traditional Jewish worship ceased.
Paul did warn the Gentiles not to get involved
in the old Jewish religion, but he nowhere told
the Jews that it was wrong for them to practice
their customs so long as they did not trust in
ceremony or make their customs a test of fellowship.
There was freedom to observe special days and
diets, and believers were not to judge or condemn
one another. Now listen, the same grace that
gave Gentiles freedom to abstain also gave the
Jews freedom to observe. All God asked was that
they received one another and did not create
problems or divisions. So here's the issue. The
elders, they turn to Paul and say, hey, we've
heard that you're teaching. Contrary to the law
of Moses and there's people out here in this
Church and the Jew in the Jerusalem church that
that believe this to be true that that you're
teaching against Moses and you're teaching against
the law and you're teaching against customs and
you're teaching Against traditions and you're
telling people not to be circumcised They're
saying that you're now anti -jewish customs and
and even laws and we fear this that Division
is going to happen in the church over this Now
This was nothing more church this was nothing
more than gossip and a lie Nothing more than
gossip and a lie in fact turn back to act 16
Acts chapter 16 In verse 3 we want to know what
Paul believed about circumcision. Well, here
we go Paul Wanted Timothy to accompany him and
he took him and what? circumcised him because
of the Jews who were in those places for they
all knew that his father was a Greek Paul was
not against the Jews being circumcised nor did
he teach against it look at Acts chapter 18 in
verse 18 when it came to the vow the Nazarite
vow was Paul against that Well in Acts 18 18
Paul stayed with him a little longer He took
leave of his brothers and set sail for Syria
and with him Priscilla and Aquila at Sinclair
He had cut his hair for why for he was under
a vow Paul was not anti Jewish customs. He was
not anti Jewish religion religions he was not
a He never taught against circumcision What Paul
was against though, and we'll look at some of
these verses here, what Paul was against was
that doing those things would get you saved.
And he taught the Jews that hey, you are no longer
under the law for salvation for your sins. You're
no longer under the law. You no longer have to
do those things. And what was being spread around
about the apostle Paul and his teaching and who
he was was that it was nothing more than a lie.
It was nothing more that started out as gossip
and turned into one big lie. Why? To destroy
and divide the church. And no one is more happier.
this scenario right here in this section of our
Bible then Satan himself that a gossip would
turn into a lie and divide the biggest church
there was in Jerusalem the father of lies loves
this this is what he's really good at let's start
spreading a rumor hey the Apostle Paul doesn't
do these things he's against you He's against
religion. Is that what the apostle Paul really
said? That's not what he really said. What he
really said was this. Your religion is not going
to save you. Your ceremonial law is not going
to save you. You're no longer under the law.
And listen church, this is so dangerous to the
church. Undermining someone's character. spreading
lies and gossip about someone, making accusations
against someone without first talking to the
person. It can seriously do damage to the church.
I've witnessed this before. Or instead of going
to the person one -on -one, and maybe this is
where James, the head of the elder board, could
have said, hey, let me just talk to Paul to see
if this is true. Could have just said hey, this
is what's going on Paul. I want you to be aware
of this is is this true And Paul can say no,
it's not true. Let me clarify if it needs clarification.
Let me let me clarify Where we need to be those
who confront people when we hear something as
opposed to just turning around and passing on
a potential lie Gossip When someone is offended
we need to go to that person and talk to that
person One -on -one listen principle number three
lies and gossip have the power to split a church
So what do the elders do they say hey look at
verse 22 what what should we do then They will
certainly hear that you have come They know that
you're here in Jerusalem and and these believing
Jews are bothered they're upset they they believe
you to be against them and What are we supposed
to do about this and the elders could not get
ahead of the lies? And they believed Paul to
be kind of like this walking Time bomb they believed
him to be kind of this powder keg that that once
it gets out that he's around is going to explode
thousands of believers here So they come up with
this plan. Here's the plan. Here's what we're
gonna do look at verse 23 do therefore What we
tell you? We have four men They're under a vow
take these four men purify yourself along with
them pay for their expenses So they may may shave
their heads Thus all will know that there is
nothing in What they have been told about you
But that you yourself also live in observance
to the law. So what are we doing? Take these
guys? We're gonna go freshen them up. We're gonna
give them a fresh haircut here Paul you're gonna
pay for their expenses and you know, they're
gonna have a fresh cut like pastor Shay always
got a fresh cut It's gonna be more than that
though. We're going Dave Wells. We're going bald.
We're going straight bald here, right? We're
gonna we're cutting it all off Right, this was
the Nazarite vow and and Paul if you do these
things and pay for their expenses They're gonna
see like hey, okay great. He's still one of ours
He's still with us He just jumped into this Nazarite
vow he just paid for them to do these things
He's these things about what are said are not
true that that's what they were thinking This
will defuse the problem We'll show them you still
love the Old Testament. You still love the law.
Let's appease the people Let's appease the critics
by coming up with this solution and Everyone
will be happy Pastor Jack Arnold says this he
says the leaders Fearing a division accepted
the philosophy of peace at any price We will
find out that the taking of the vow did not appease
the critics for they were in sin for judging
Paul, listening to hearsay and having a critical
spirit. Critical people must deal with their
sinful attitudes before God until they repent
they will never be appeased. What is he saying?
Paul could have shaved the heads of a thousand
people. Paul could pay the expenses for everyone
in Jerusalem and it still would not have been
enough Why because when somebody has a critical
spirit about someone else? It doesn't matter
what they do. They could go to the moon and back
and it's not gonna matter This is what's happening
here these people had had such a critical spirit
about Paul that it did not matter what he did
They were so bitter so upset at the Apostle Paul
believe the lies believe the gossip Paul could
have done anything and everything to try to Outwardly
show like hey guys. I'm on your side. It didn't
matter. They had a critical spirit. Their problem
was in the heart You guys have any critical people
in your life There's no of critical people. Are
you a critical person? Have a critical spirit
You ever tried to appease someone that you knew
they had a critical spirit about you I Know what
I'll do. I'll be extra nice to them. That's great.
You should be nice. You should be nice anyway,
whether they're critical or not You try to do
a little bit more for them and a little bit more
and a little bit more and a little bit more and
a little bit more More more more more more and
you're like, why isn't this working? It's not
working because it's not an outward problem.
It's an inward problem It's not working because
we can't actually appease somebody who has a
critical spirit And what we have to do is we
have to turn that over to the Lord and say God
You have to do what I cannot do and that is you
have to do some heart work on this person Maybe
it is you have to do some heart work on my own
heart And my own soul Unfortunately, we see this
in marriages all too often where a spouse has
such a critical spirit that Yet their husband
or their wife can't do anything right anymore
They're just trying and trying and trying and
Because of the bitterness they can't even see
anymore the effort. They can't even see anymore
the attempt and so often in counseling, we're
just trying to get people to see their own hearts.
And how their own critical nature is preventing
them to see the good thing that is right in front
of them. These Jews wouldn't, peas, we're gonna
see this in verse 27 if we ever get there, we'll
see it that they, it was never enough and they
wanted to kill him in verse 31. Finally it gets
to 31, they wanna kill him. So here you have
this dilemma for Paul, right? He's he's accused
of things that were not true They wanted to participate
in ceremonial law They wanted to pay for these
four men to give him a haircut to get under the
Nazarite Nazarite vowel yet. Yeah, here's Paul
He's preached against this being an act of salvation
He's preached that these things cannot save you
in fact in Galatians 2 16 he said this Yet we
know that a person is not justified by works
of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ.
So we have believed in Jesus Christ in order
to be justified by faith and not by works of
the law, because by works of the law, no one
will be justified. So you have this dilemma that
Paul is in. They want him to do these things
and Paul's preached against it and he doesn't
want the people to think that now I'm turning
against what I taught and going back to these
old customs as if they're going to save you.
So Paul's like, well what do I do? How is he
going to respond? Do I just? Do this even though
it may look like I'm obeying for salvation, which
he's not do I do this? So there's no division
in the church He did not believe that circumcision
or obedience to the law saved he didn't he didn't
want to give that impression But he also didn't
want division within the church And you want
to know what else pop Paul was concerned about
I believe this was also in the heart of Paul
Paul was also concerned about obeying his elders
How could Paul write in Hebrews 13 5 to obey
your leaders if he himself doesn't obey in this
scenario How could he write those things but
you can feel the tension here that Paul is in
We know what Paul eventually does he eventually
goes ahead with what they ask him to do in obedience
to the elders requests He took the vow. Some
believe that Paul was in sin here by going back
under the law. In fact G. Campbell Morgan, maybe
you've heard of this writer, he says this, this
was the greatest mistake in the ministry of the
Apostle Paul. I don't believe that. I don't believe
it's the biggest mistake in the ministry of the
Apostle Paul. Believe this I believe that Paul
loved the church so much that he wanted to to
spread the gospel so much that listen He was
willing to put aside a preference of his and
a way of practicing his Christian faith For the
sake of unity in the church and gospel advancement
This is what he said in first Corinthians 9 20
to 22 to the Jews I became a Jew why in order
to win juice To those under the law what I became
as one under the law though not being myself
under the law, that I might, what? Win those
under the law. To those outside the law, I became
as one outside the law, not being outside the
law of God, but under the law of Christ, why?
That I might win those outside the law. To the
weak, I became weak, that I might win the weak.
I have become all things to all people, that
by all means, I might save some. Why did Paul
do this? For people to come to know Christ. For
the advancement of the gospel for the unity of
the church. He says to the elders I will obey
you you believe that this is what's right This
is now a strong preference of mine. I'm going
to put it to the side Why so some of the Jews
might come to know Christ? He saw a greater glory
for God in this He saw greater service to God
by doing what the elders had asked him to do,
so that some may come to know Christ for the
unity of the church. You say, well, what does
that look like today? It may sound something
like this. Hey, I really don't like the worship
or the music. It's not my preference, but you
know what, for the unity of the church, I'm not
gonna complain about it. I don't like how long
the pastor preaches, but you know what, for his
sake, I'm not gonna complain about it. For the
sake of the church, I may not like this, I may
not like that, or they practice it this way,
I wouldn't practice it that way, but you know
what, for the unity of the church, I'm not gonna
complain. For the unity of the church, I'm gonna
set that aside. For the advancement of the gospel
of Jesus Christ. I'm gonna put aside a tertiary
issue, one of lesser importance, one that's not
a salvific issue. I'm gonna put these issues
of personal preference off to the side, even
these issues or these conclusions that you come
with that you have because of your own study
of God's word and you're even willing to say,
I'm not going to make a big deal of that because
I care about the unity of the church. I want
people to see how unified we are around Christ
and I want this to be a beautiful picture of
the gospel of Jesus Christ for people when they
come in here and there's not complaining and
there's not bickering and there's not division,
there's unity around the most important thing
and that's the gospel. And I put those things
to the side. You say, well, sounds like you want
me to make a compromise. Yes. See how that compromise
is bad. Compromise is not all bad. Let me give
you an illustration. Maybe this will be real
life for you. You guys are gonna get into a car
right after this, most of you. And you're gonna
sit in the car and you're gonna look over to
the person sitting next to you and you're gonna
go, what are we doing for lunch today? And the
person sitting next to you is going to say, well,
we're going to have leftovers. And you're going
to go, ah, I don't really want leftovers. Didn't
we just eat that last night? Yep, we ate it last
night. I was hoping that we could go out to dinner
or out to lunch. And the other person is going
to say, well, ah, we just spent a bunch of money
on Christmas gifts. We probably shouldn't go
out to eat. OK, well, how about we just go to
Chipotle then? Because that's kind of like going
out to eat. Well, I was actually thinking if
we are gonna go out to eat let's go have a hamburger
One of you are gonna have to do what? You have
to compromise say why for the sake of your marriage,
please compromise in that in that scenario It's
not a bad compromise John Stott says this the
solution to which he came was not compromise
in the sense of sacrificing a doctrinal or moral
principle but a concession in the area of practice
that's what's happening principle number four
then is this when appropriate look beyond personal
preferences to grace for the sake of unity adapt
even when it's uncomfortable for the love of
the church even ask yourself questions is this
an issue about salvation Is this an issue about
gospel drift? Is this an issue about the culture?
Is this about practice? And this is something
that you can put to the side for the sake of
unity within the church We got to keep moving
verse 25 the Gentiles have for the Gentiles who
have believed We sent a letter of judgment that
they should abstain from what has been sacrificed
to idols from the blood from what has been strangled,
from sexual immorality. This is going back to
the Jerusalem Council and the letters that were
written there. You can go back and study that
for yourself. Verse 26, then Paul took the men.
The next day he purified himself along with them
and went into the temple giving notice, and giving
purification would be fulfilled, and the offering
presented for each of them. Verse 27. When the
seven days were almost completed, the Jews from
Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up the
whole crowd, laid hands on him, crying out, Men
of Israel, help! This is a man who is teaching
everyone, everywhere, against the people and
the law and this place. Moreover, he even brought
Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy
place. For they have previously seen Trophimus
the Ephesian with him in the city, and they suppose
that Paul had brought him into the temple. Then
all the city was stirred up, and the people ran
together. They seized Paul, dragged him out of
the temple, and at once the gates were shut.
And as they were seeking to kill him, word came
to the tribune of the cohort that all of Jerusalem
was in confusion. He at once took soldiers and
centurions, ran down to them, and when they saw
the tribune and the soldiers, they stopped beating
Paul. 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 in the
crowd were shouting one thing, some another.
As he could not learn the facts because of their
uproar he ordered him to be brought into the
barracks And when he had come to the steps he
was actually carried by the soldiers Because
of the violence of the crowd for the mob of the
people followed crying out away from him So number
three is this Jerusalem is in chaos and Paul's
arrest As I mentioned earlier no matter what
Paul did by concession it would not be enough
There was bitterness there's deep harboring of
dislike for Paul no matter what he practiced
they were not going to like him and Jerusalem
now is in chaos and verse 30 it says the whole
city was stirred up verse 31 Jerusalem was in
confusion and Satan could not be happier We've
got him distracted This is great Everybody's
in confusion. Everybody's in chaos. They're not
worshiping the Lord. This is exactly what Satan
wants They hear Paul's in town they arrest him
they seek to kill him they beat him so much so
that the soldier had to carry him Put him in
the barracks sought to take his life Principle
number five for some Especially those who are
bitter or critical you can never do enough for
them to change their mind God will have to change
it God will have to change it Well in God's providence
we get a time for communion And I want to just
turn our attention to that this morning always
seems so appropriate for us to end our our service,
especially with a Message like this where we're
seeking our own hearts Men why don't you guys
come up and let's have the the band come back
up and What I like for us to do is the elements
are going to be passed. I just want to remind
you Communion is for communion is for Believers
if you're a believer in Jesus Christ. We want
you to take communion if you're not a believer
in Jesus Christ Then we ask that you allow the
elements to pass. The Bible makes it clear if
you take communion in an unworthy way that judgment
will come upon you. And we just want to make
sure that you are a believer in Christ as you
take these elements. These elements are just
that. There's nothing special about them. There's
nothing unique about them. But they are for remembrance.
We get to hold the gospel in our hands. Showing
us as we hold it there the body of Christ that
was sacrificed for us and the blood of Christ
that was the payment for our sin. And what I
want you to do in this time of just silence here
and even as Ivan plays some music in the background
is just allow yourself some time to reflect.
on what you just heard, and in time to reflect
on the gospel, what God has done for your life.
Maybe there's someone even in this room that
you need to go and ask forgiveness for, having
offended them. Maybe there's some reconciliation
that needs to happen. But let's just have a moment
here just to, between you and your Savior. which
represents the body of Jesus Christ. At Christmas
time we celebrate God coming into the world in
human flesh. Same way that all of us came into
the world. Eventually Jesus would go to the cross,
die on the cross for our sins, and His body would
be that which would be sacrificed. And in 1 Corinthians
11 verse 23 it says, As the Apostle Paul was
relating the story of what Christ said in the
upper room, he said, I received from the Lord
what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus
on the night he was betrayed, he took the bread,
and when he had given thanks, he broke it and
said, this is my body which is for you. Do this
in remembrance of me. Church, let's take this
in remembrance of Jesus and sacrifice for us.
You also hold in your hand the cup, which represents
the blood of Jesus. And in the blood of Jesus,
it represents to us the new covenant that we
have in Christ. Even what we talked about, what
the Apostle Paul was preaching so much against
was that, hey, we're no longer under the law.
We no longer strive for salvation through the
works of the law. We're under a new covenant,
and that new covenant is the blood of Jesus Christ.
He paid it all. He did every work that was done
for us that we could never do and because of
that Because of faith in Jesus Christ and the
sacrifice that he has made for us. We have forgiveness
of sins and eternal life Let's take that this
cup together thinking about that Lord thank you
for communion. Thank you for this remembrance
of the gospel the hope that we have in Jesus
Christ our Lord and Savior. In His name we pray,
amen.