"When You Do Right and It All Goes Wrong" November 6 Readings: Acts 21-23

 

Reading the Bible Chronologically in 2024

This year, instead of reading from Genesis to Revelation, we will read the Bible as the story flows, as it happened and was written. There are several plans out there and I have worked to combine them into a plan that lets the Bible tell its own story "as it happened." Remember, the Bible is inspired, but not in the order the books appear in our Bibles.  The Old Testament is approximately 3/4 of the Bible, but we will give more emphasis to the New Testament, spending half the year in the Old Testament and half in the New. 

Bible Readings: Acts 21-23

Background:  

Paul ends his third journey based on a direct leading from God's Holy Spirit and headed to Jerusalem to proclaim Christ. He was warned that it was going to get difficult there, that he would be arrested and taken to Rome.

Along the way, as Paul traveled back to Jerusalem from Asia Minor, the Spirit also sent two different people or groups of people to warn him about the trip. First, when he landed at Tyre, a group of disciples under the guidance of the Spirit warned Paul not to go to Jerusalem. Then, when his group debarked at Caesarea, a prophet named Agabus warned him he would be bound and made captive. The local believers tried every means they could think of to convince Paul to turn aside from his plans.

Paul ignored them all and went to Jerusalem, where everything the people warned him about came true. What a fool Paul was, right? Warned repeatedly that danger was ahead, he failed to turn aside and ended up in prison. If only he had listened to those who warned him!

Or, maybe Paul understood something important. Maybe he knew something that many have forgotten.

Following God's leading and doing God's work is no guarantee of ease, comfort or the freedom from trouble. 

Serving Christ is no guarantee of ease and comfort. In fact, according to the New Testament, we can be confident it will include suffering, hardship, and pain. Paul was willing to endure whatever he needed to as he served the Lord. To live was Christ so to die was gain and to suffer was worth it!

Today's reading concludes the third journey and returns Paul to Jerusalem where despite his good intent he is arrested and his half-decade of Roman incarceration begins.

Daily Devotional: 

Paul's ministry changed the church - entirely, in every way. It began when God sent Peter to Cornelius, but things really got going when God tabbed Barnabas and Saul and sent them off on their missionary quest. A funny thing happened - Gentiles got saved. A lot of them. In fact, by the time Paul returned to Jerusalem in Acts 21 to meet with the remaining apostles, the church beyond the borders of ancient Israel was a majority Gentile body.

There were a lot of folks back in Jerusalem who didn't like it one bit. After Paul recounted the glorious things that God was doing among the Gentiles, James, and the other leaders rejoiced, according to verse 20. They were glad, but they were also nervous because the gospel was also spreading rapidly among the Jews in the homeland. Unfortunately, among these Jewish converts, there was still loyalty to the old ways, and to the Jewish traditions, and there were stories circulating about Paul's ministry.

You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed. They are all zealous for the law, and they have been told about you that 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. Acts 21:20-21

I don't know how to process this here. I hope that James tried to confront the lies that were being told about Paul, but one wonders if he had some reservations about Paul's ministry, and if the council of Acts 15 had resolved all the issues related to the Jewish nature of the church. But James had a suggestion for Paul. There were four men going to the temple to finish a vow. Paul could go with them and demonstrate that his loyalty to Judaism was still strong and that the rumors that were coming back from Paul's enemies were false.

Do therefore what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow;  take these men and purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses, so that they 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 of the law.

So Paul did exactly that. Though he had done nothing wrong and was proclaiming the true gospel to all men and women, Paul submitted himself to James' desires and in an effort to make peace, he went to the temple as he was asked. 

And it all worked out great. Everyone joined hands, gave a giant group hug, and sang "Kumbaya" together. Right? 

Actually, no. The opposite happened. Verses 27-36 tell us about this turning point in Paul's life. Some of his enemies from his travels in Asia (Asia Minor, likely in Ephesus) recognized him and stirred up the crowd against him with lies. He was arrested and if the soldiers had not intervened, he might well have lost his life. 

Paul tried to do the right thing and everything went wrong! It can happen folks. In fact, whoever said that doing the right thing was a guarantee that everything would work out and that everything would go well for you evidently didn't have a Bible! God's holy and perfect Word is full of stories of people who did the right thing for the right reasons and everything went wrong. That's life in this wicked world. 

God was still in charge and even this evil led to the furtherance of the work of the gospel. You cannot judge the rightness of your work by how well things work out in the world. That's not how God judges. He looks for obedience and faithfulness. There's no guaranteed outcome - in this world. You may, like Paul, suffer hardship, but God is faithful and will continue to use you even in the most difficult of circumstances. 

Father, you are great. Help me to faithful and obedient whatever the outcome. 

Consider God's Word:

Do you labor under the idea that when you serve God and walk in him, everything will go well and will work out?

Remember that God is calling us to service not to success. Are you willing to suffer for Christ? Are you willing to obey even if others oppose you, if some persecute you?