It is a very difficult thing to have your plans changed when you have worked them out carefully. It is especially difficult when you are criticized as a result of having to change them. I am able to identify with the Apostle Paul a bit, who obviously was a very organized person and did not like to have his plans changed.
Yesterday we saw that Paul’s change of plans gave rise to unreasonable and destructive criticism. It is hard to believe that people who had benefited by Paul’s ministry would be as petty as that or, even if they were not the ones who made the slander, that they were petty enough to at least listen to it. But, that is the way it is. This is true in Christian work. I regret to say it, but there is a great deal of petty criticism leveled.
One of my predecessors at Tenth Presbyterian Church, Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse, used to compare the conscience to a sundial. A sundial gives a good approximation of time when the sun is shining on it. But, if the sun is not shining on it, it does not give good time at all. If you go out in the garden at night and look at a sundial when the moon is shining on it, it might say, 7 a.m., but it is not 7 a.m.; it is the middle of the night.
Do the wire taps of the AP News agency sound intrusive? Do you feel the IRS tactics with politically conservative groups seem over-reaching?
Theme: The Comfort of God’s Sovereignty
From this psalm, we are reminded that because God is sovereign and righteous, we are to hate sin and rejoice in him.
Scripture: Psalm 97:1-12
Theme: When God Manifests Himself
From this psalm, we are reminded that because God is sovereign and righteous, we are to hate sin and rejoice in him.
Scripture: Psalm 97:1-12
Theme: Worship the Lord Only
From this psalm, we are reminded that because God is sovereign and righteous, we are to hate sin and rejoice in him.
Scripture: Psalm 97:1-12
Theme: God’s Righteous Judgment
From this psalm, we are reminded that because God is sovereign and righteous, we are to hate sin and rejoice in him.
Scripture: Psalm 97:1-12
Theme: Loving God and Hating Sin
From this psalm, we are reminded that because God is sovereign and righteous, we are to hate sin and rejoice in him.
Scripture: Psalm 97:1-12
Acts 21 begins a new section of Luke’s history, dealing with a period in Paul’s life which is not as uplifting as the temptations, trials and triumphs we have looked at earlier. The missionary journeys are completed. Paul is going to Jerusalem for the last time and arrives there in this chapter.
Paul persevered in a tough job for many long years in spite of opposition, persecution, and even physical abuse. If Paul had not had the kind of personality he had, he would not have achieved what he did achieve in his ministry.
In yesterday’s study we looked at two things that can be said in defense of Paul’s decision to return to Jerusalem: his strong personality and his love of the Jews. Third, Paul had a great evangelistic plan, a strong strategy for world missions, and this was part of it. Paul knew that there was a growing rupture in the church between its Jewish and Gentile branches. This was probably inevitable, given Jewish prejudices against the Gentile world. But whether it was inevitable or not, Paul wanted to do everything possible to overcome its presence in the church.
Someone may object at this point, “But what’s the big deal? What difference did it make that Paul went to Jerusalem, even if he was out of the will of God? Certainly many of us do similar things. Didn’t God just say, ‘Well, alright, let him do it; I’ll get him on the right track later’?” We find the answer to those questions as we read on in the story, for we learn that Paul’s disobedience quickly led to something quite bad.
There are times when one is strong and another is weak, when one is off the path but another is on it. But that can always be reversed. We can ourselves always stumble and fall, like others. We need to be humble. We need to know that we also always need each other, just as we also always need the Lord.
What I have to say in this week’s study is applicable to everybody. It is about hardships, about the difficult times in life that come to all.
The story is straightforward. Paul had been attacked by the Jerusalem mob and had almost been lynched. Yet he had escaped from the Jews’ hands because of the Roman troops’ intervention. It was the Romans’ job to keep peace in Jerusalem, especially in volatile times like these, and the soldiers did it very well. Paul was taken into custody, and it would have seemed to all who were in Jerusalem, Jews and Romans alike, that in the keeping of this large military force Paul was now certainly very safe. Yet there were men in the city, known as zealots, who were determined that the apostle should not escape their hands. There were about forty of them, and they got together to take an oath that they would not eat or drink until they had killed Paul.
The next part of the story tells how God protected Paul. How God did it is interesting.
As we noted in yesterday’s study, God often uses the little things in life to accomplish His purposes. That is the way God operates, and it is worth reflecting on it. Why? Because if that is the way God is accustomed to operate, if God delights in using little things, then God can use us, however small or apparently insignificant we may be.
I cannot tell you what God is doing in your circumstances, of course. I cannot see the future any more than you can. But God is doing something in your circumstances. And if you are going through dark times, as Paul was, if you are discouraged, if the way seems dark, if you are weary with the struggle, the message of this chapter is to continue to trust in God and serve him regardless. His purposes for you will be accomplished, the day will brighten, and the will of God will be done.
One of the amazing things about God’s work in the life of a Christian is the way in which God uses circumstances to bring about His own desirable ends. These are not necessarily large or dramatic circumstances, like the death of someone close to us, an exciting new job opportunity, or a world war. Often it is little things that God uses, like an offhand remark in conversation, a missed appointment, or a “chance” meeting. The apostle Paul has been an example of that many times in the early chapters of Acts. We see an additional unfolding of God’s plan for his life through circumstances in the chapter to which we come to now.
Acts 25 tells of the trial of the apostle Paul before Festus. Compared to the account of the trial before Felix, which is given in chapter 24, and the account of the trial before King Agrippa, which follows, this narrative is relatively brief, no doubt because what happened here was of less significance for Paul and also because most of what happened has already been covered in the earlier story. In some ways, it is only a repetition of the charges and responses, but before another judge.
Festus was a good administrator. Yet he had his own serious flaw, and in this respect he was much like his predecessor. He wanted to please the people. He wanted to show the Jews a favor. A person might say, “When you’re in charge of something you have to get along with those you govern.” That is true, of course. But this was a legal matter. Paul was on trial. Any giving of favors in this situation was in reality a perversion of justice and the abuse of an innocent man.
Luke, the author of Acts, says that although they brought “many serious charges against him,” they could not “prove” them (v. 7). So all Paul had to do in these circumstances was deny the charges. The burden of proof rested with his accusers, and Festus, being a perceptive judge at least in this respect, understood it and knew that there were no grounds for condemning the apostle.
To repeat an important point from yesterday’s lesson, you and I face a world whose value system is hostile to the standards of the Lord Jesus Christ and in which we are constantly pressured to compromise or deny our faith. How are you and I going to stand for righteousness in a world like that? Let me suggest three ways.
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