Let's stand together, brothers and sisters, for the reading of God's Word. We'll be looking at Acts chapter 21, verses 15 through 26. The title of this sermon is, Live Peaceably with All Men. I'll be reading from verse 12 through to verse 27. Please listen carefully because this is God's holy and infallible Word. Now when we heard these things, both we and those from that place pleaded with Him not to go up to Jerusalem. And then Paul answered, What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart? For I'm ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. So when he would not be persuaded, we ceased saying the will of the Lord be done. And after those days, we packed and went up to Jerusalem. Also, some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us and brought with them a certain menacing of Cyprus, an early disciple with whom we were to lodge. And when we had come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly. On the following day, Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present. When he had greeted them, he told in detail those things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord. And they said to him, you see, brother, how many myriads of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law. But they have been informed about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs. What then? The assembly must certainly meet, for they will hear that you have come. Therefore, do what we tell you. We have four men who have taken a vow. Take them and be purified with them and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads. and that all may know that those things of which they were informed concerning you are nothing, but that you yourself also walk orderly and keep the law. But concerning the Gentiles who believe, we have written and decided that they should observe no such thing, except that they should keep themselves from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. Then Paul took the men, and the next day, having been purified with them, into the temple to announce the expiration of the days of purification, at which time an offering should be made for each one of them. Now, when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him. And thus ends the reading of God's word. Amen. Amen. Please be seated. So have you been faithful in your life, serving with faithfulness, certainly not perfection, but have you had times of faithful service in your life, loving others, sacrificing for others? And if so, what kind of expectations have developed in your heart and your mind regarding the fruits of that and the outcome of that? Have you ever experienced disappointment? where your labors and your sacrifices appear to be unappreciated and it doesn't go as you think it should go? Do you get disappointed? And in that moment where God is taking a mirror and putting it before your soul, do you remain faithful? Do you continue to sacrifice? Do you continue in faithfulness? test that Paul faces in today's section of scripture. We see Paul again imitating Christ. And it's really a soul thermometer when this happens to us. And it really teaches you why are you being faithful? And what you may discover is that your faithfulness was, in many regards, an expression of selfishness. We don't see that in Paul's life. And it may also not be true of us. So in today's sermon, it's entitled live peaceably with all men, which is what Paul had written a few years prior to this, when he wrote to the Romans, as much as it depends upon you live peaceably with all men. So first of all, we'll see in verses 15 and 16 that love never fails. They had this disagreement that was pretty significant. And they decided to move ahead and here's evidence that they really did move ahead. Then Paul arrives and he gives his detailed minister report to the leaders. He's brought into that big session for that big city church there. We see their short-sighted response. I think it's very clear that the leaders of the church of Jerusalem are not seeing the whole picture. And then they want to enlist Paul's help. for him to fix the situation that troubles them that's going on in the church at that time. Now, they do reaffirm the Jerusalem Council findings in verse twenty five. They're not reneging on that council or decree. And then Paul does what they ask of him, demonstrating for us again that we are called to follow Christ and imitate Christ. And Paul said to the degree that I imitate Christ, imitate me. He shows them how to live peaceably with all men. And then along the way and at the end, some questions to know and to love and to obey God more fully and that we would come to see ourselves more accurately through today's message. So diving in verse 15 and 16. And after those days, we packed and went up to Jerusalem. Also, some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us and brought with them a certain Manasseh of Cyprus, an early disciple with whom we were to lodge. So what we need to see here is that Paul's team, and it's a fairly large team, continues together. They stay together. And it demonstrates that they really did leave behind their disagreement over whether Paul should go to Jerusalem or not. We looked at that last week. They really did trust in the Lord's will. It wasn't just a slogan that they used, not just a cliche after they finished their disagreement. They meant it. The will of the Lord be done. They put a stake in the ground. They left that behind and they moved ahead. That's a real lesson for all of us. We need to leave in the past what deserves to be left in the past. I want you to think of the temptation that they would have faced to abandon Paul. They knew from prophetic, divine prophetic guidance that he would be arrested and bound by the Jews and imprisoned under Roman control. And who knows what that could lead to? Loss of reputation, loss of property, loss of health, loss of life. loss of freedom. And they knew that this would also present a risk, not just to Paul, but to his close companions. And they went with him anyways. They truly left their disagreement behind them. It wasn't like, well, you know, Paul, you're kind of on your own here. We've warned you, you know, we'll pray for you, but I'm not going with you. That is not what happened. You see, and this team, as you will see as we go on, they had a mission together to express the love of the Gentile churches. to the Jewish church of Jerusalem. Paul's love that he helped them to embrace of the Gentile church for the Jewish church to experience that middle wall of separation being broken down like Paul wrote to the Ephesians in chapter 2. And we'll look at that. Paul really wanted to see the church of the Lord Jesus Christ brought together Now, who are these men? Pastor Kaiser, in his sermon on this section, he says, earlier in Acts, Luke identifies who accompanied Paul. The Macedonian churches were represented by Sopater, Aristarchus, and Secundus. The Galatian churches were represented by Gaius and Timothy. The Asian churches were represented by Tychicus and Trophimus. And according to 2 Corinthians, the Corinthian churches were represented by Titus and two other unnamed brethren. And so keep in mind, Kaiser reminds us that most of these are Gentiles. So we'll be thinking about not only how Paul would have felt when he heard these things from the church leaders in Jerusalem, but how all these Gentiles who were with him would have felt. And you see that all of the regions where Paul had gone preaching the gospel are represented here. All of these Gentile regions. So this is a contingency. This is the visible fruit of the labors of the gospel that God has brought forth from these churches coming back to Jerusalem to bless them. And again, note that the love of the saints continues to flow. Some of the believers from Caesarea decide to further strengthen Paul by traveling with him. And we've seen along the way as he's going from town to town, there's always believers there giving them hospitality, giving them love. Is this true for us today? Do we have the same kind of heart for one another? This man, Manasseh, was an early believer, which means he was probably a little older. And he apparently had a place in Jerusalem where they could lodge during their stay. And don't forget, this is during the Passover feast. Would have been really crazy busy in Jerusalem at that time. All the lodgings would have likely been filled up by then. So we can see the Lord's kind providence via the generosity of Manasseh. Lodging, as I've said, would have been hard to find during the Passover feast. And one of the commentaries says it was basically considered a scandal if you had any empty rooms during that time. You just really were just expected to bring people in. And so what would happen then, all your friends and family that you knew best ended up staying with you, right? And so there would have been very little place to find. But Manasseh comes along. He's named here. He's honored that he opens his home for Paul and his traveling companions to have a place to stay when they're in Jerusalem. So they arrive, it's probably a two day journey on horseback. I saw in the commentary, it's likely they would have gone by horseback because of the heavy load that they would have brought with them. What heavy load? The great financial blessing they brought from all of these Gentile churches. Because Jerusalem was in the midst of famine and difficulty at that time. So the text tells us he gets there, and when we had come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly. On the following day, Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present. When he had greeted them, he told in detail those things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. So we're told that the brethren received them gladly. So some of the members of the Jerusalem church received Paul and his team. Think of this as kind of an initial informal greeting. Perhaps these are friends of Manasseh or perhaps friends of these Gentiles who may have had connections in Jerusalem in some way. In any case, this is a small contingency, a small group of the believers from that Jerusalem church. They find out that they're there and they greet them with gladness, right? Word then spreads of Paul's arrival. So the word goes out and the ripples begin to occur. And then the more formal meeting with church leaders occurs the next day. And after this all unfolds, you can see that this meeting would have had a bit of a overstructured feel to it, probably for Paul and his companions. So the next day, that's pretty quick. That's pretty quick. James and all the elders, there may have been up to 70 of them, they all get together the next day. So this is, they're moving quick. So they gather all the church leaders for this important meeting with Paul and his team. Now, initially you might think they're excited and super glad to receive the gifts and hear the report, and they don't reject that, but you can see what's really on their mind. So no mention is made of any non-leaders being present at this meeting. So it has the feel of a closed door meeting. And as the event unfolds, we understand why we can see that the leadership is trying to do damage control instead of dealing with gossip and rumors the way they should have. So this is, you know, church leaders make big mistakes, especially when they get focused and myopic and looking only at their own congregation and not considering the broader church. So there are friendly greetings. They do greet them with love and kindness and warmth. It's not that there's animosity here. Paul goes on to give them a detailed missionary report. We've told details. So he tells them everything. detailed missionary report of all the things that God had done among the Gentiles during his missionary journey. So everything we've looked at from the time he left Tarsus and went over the mountains and began there in Galatia, all the way through the first missionary journey, when they were at Cyprus and when he was at Barnabas, he goes through all of it. The whole thing. First, second, third missionary journeys. Corinth, Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, He tells them the whole story of what happened in Macedonia. He probably enjoyed telling them about the man of Macedonia calling him to come across the Aegean Sea. All those wonderful things that we've seen God's wondrous providential hand. He tells them all of these things. Now think about this. If this is the first time you're hearing this. Wait a minute, go back to that other part, Paul. I wanna hear more of that. Okay, what about here? Nope, that's not what happens, okay? So, he gives him just this glorious report of God bringing the gospel to the Gentiles. would have taken a long time. Think of all the sufferings that he would have told them about, all of his journeys over land, over sea, all of his preaching, all of his opportunities to preach in the synagogues and in the open air, what he would have seen at Corinth and Athens, the miracles that God accomplished, the lengthy teaching that he would have been able to do there at Ephesus, and all the conversions of Gentiles and Jews. There were a lot of Jews that were converted. Surely he would have also put an emphasis on the general hard hearted response of most of the Jews along the way that surely would have been a part of what he was talking about. And he probably would have talked about the beauty of seeing Jews and Gentiles worshiping God together. And him teaching them how to do this, like he did when he wrote back to the church at Ephesus. So they're having this meeting. He's giving them this beautiful description of what God is doing, which would have included Jews and Gentiles being brought together and the beauty of them worshiping together in the same building and being at peace with one another and accepting one another's different customs and not looking down on one another. All of that very likely would have been a part of what he said. So also at this time, in addition to all of that, it's probably the time when Paul and this team deliver what was very likely a large financial collection that they had gathered from the Gentile churches to help the Jerusalem church during this time of financial hardship. So this is quite an amazing time that Paul and his team has with these church leaders. Kaiser puts it this way, the purpose of this trip was to bring a massive love offering from the Gentile churches to help the poor who were suffering in Jerusalem. Later in Acts 24, Paul, remembering this visit, says, now after many years I came to bring alms and offerings to my nation. So we know that's what happened. So how big was the offering? Well, the size must have been enormous because it took 10 additional men to help carry it. That's a lot of money that they were watching over. Earlier in Acts, Luke identifies who accompanied Paul. I've already read that to you. As we go through this passage, try to imagine what they would feel like when James speaks to Paul. All of them were accompanying the gifts that had been raised by their own churches. They've traveled so far with Paul. They're excited to finally be there and to give the gifts and express their love they've experienced. They've been with Paul in these dangers and these journeys and the hardships of all of this. It was a large delegation. It was a big deal. So Paul's plan to comfort the Jerusalem church has come to fruition. He's been working hard. He's been sacrificing. He's been doing what God has called him to do. And he gets there and he gives the report and he's got all these people with him and he's got the money with him. It's the time of fruition. He's displayed his love and his commitment to a unified church, bringing Jews and Gentiles together. And he's done this in the following ways. He himself is present in spite of the certainty of his approaching suffering. Next, he's brought with him a large team of men from every area where he has ministered as representatives of the Gentile churches to express love to the Jerusalem church that is mostly Jewish converts. This is a self-conscious act to build unity, to experience that that middle wall of hostility has been broken down between Jew and Gentile. They have brought along a collection of funds that is likely a large amount of money. And he has recounted God's faithfulness to save and bring in the Gentiles. A lot has happened in this meeting. And we know what Paul's goal was. He wrote the book of Galatians, you recall, right around the time of the Jerusalem Council controversy that was going on when the Judaizers were coming down and telling the Gentiles that they had to keep the ceremonial law. And they all came together in Jerusalem. And meanwhile, Paul writes a letter back to the Galatians, that's the book of Galatians, going through all of this. It really helps us understand Acts 15. That's what Paul said at that time, years earlier, at the time of the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15, before his missionary journeys. You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free. There's neither male nor female for you are all one in Christ Jesus. So Jesus Christ has established a new world of unity and common ground fellowship because we are all one in Christ. And Paul is passionate about this. Paul understands Jesus has taught him about this and what he's doing to bring them together. And we know that that whole old ceremonial system that's acceptable for Jews to still keep as Christians is vanishing away. And many of these Jewish Christians probably just don't understand that. And just, it's still too much of a big thing for them to get past. That the whole ceremonial system is gonna be destroyed. And the most obvious symbol of that is the destruction of the temple. So here we see many years of work, service, and preparation coming to fruition at this moment. And we see Paul's strong desire for the church of God to get beyond the past divisions between Jew and Gentile. That's what he wants. That's what he's been working for. So let's look at their short-sighted response. They say, when they heard it, they glorified the Lord. And they said to him, you see, brother, how many myriads of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law. But they have been informed about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children or to walk according to the customs. What then? The assembly must certainly meet, for they will hear that you have come." So first of all, we need to see that it wasn't all bad. It certainly could have been worse. It does say they glorified the Lord in what they heard from Paul. They did listen to him. They did consider what God had done among the Gentiles. They gave him his time to report, and his opportunity to share. And they did express gladness to God for these blessings, but it appears that even as they were listening, and we've all done this before, think about it, even as they were listening, their attention was significantly divided as they prepared to initiate the plan they had already crafted before this meeting, they had already started. So instead of planning a churchwide feast in the midst of Passover to celebrate together the goodness of God, to bring together Jewish and Gentile believers, let's have a party. Let's use some of these funds you've brought to have a citywide glorious party in the midst of Passover. That's not what they do. They focus upon the rumors and the false accusations that have been brought against Paul by the Jewish believers in the Jerusalem church. Now, look, they're motivated by good things. They want to strengthen God's church. They want to keep the church together. They don't want there to be a congregational uprising. First thing they point to is that the Jerusalem church had continued to grow. We saw this early on in the book of Acts, significant growth, added, multiplied, multiplied, multitudes. There's a lot of words showing growth of the church in Jerusalem in the early days after Pentecost. But it looks as though it continued to grow. It says, how many myriads of Jews there are who have believed. So a lot of Jews had come into the church and were now Christians who still As Jews, look to the ceremonial law and practice the ceremonial law. And so there's just still this confusion about what that means and what it's all about. And Paul's made it clear through his actions and his words that it's acceptable for them to do that. They just need to understand it. It's wrong for them to tell the Gentiles they must do it, but it's acceptable for them because that covenant is still in place at that time. It had not been destroyed. As we see in Hebrews, it was passing away. but it had not passed away yet at that time. Now today we would tell a Jew, no, you do not keep the ceremony along, right? That covenant is destroyed. The Jerusalem church had grown and it seems like these church leaders are very aware of the power that's being wielded by this group. It's not a small contingency. If this group remains offended and takes action, what would happen to the church? So perhaps these church leaders were more fearful in their response to the situation than filled with faith. Next, the Jews are zealous for the law, Paul is told. And the implication there is that they don't think Paul is zealous for the law. So that's by implication. But Paul, we know Paul delights in God's law. He'd just written about it years earlier. Romans 8.22, he says, 7.22, not 8.22, I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. Paul delights in God's law. So these Jewish converts have yet to lay aside the unconverted Jewish thinking about God's law. There's still some kind of unconverted thinking about it. Mainly, they've yet to embrace that the ceremonial law has been completely fulfilled in Christ and is passing away. They still live in their minds in a system of law that distinguishes them from the world around them. They want that distinguishing feature to persist. And they just cannot adjust to its transience and its relative unimportance compared to the great glory of Christ's unifying work. His blood shed on the cross, and brothers and sisters, you're guilty of the same thing. All of us want something to distinguish us from others in our flesh. It's one of the hallmarks of our sinful estate, is to look to something to make you think you're better than others. We all have that. It's like the heart of being sinful. And we're blind to it. And we won't realize that we're doing it, whether it's because we homeschool, or because our church is family integrated, or we use a particular translation of the Bible, whatever it might be, whatever practice or belief that you might have, which might be good and acceptable. So let's make sure that we don't always just cast ourselves as the good guy in the story. Now, Paul puts it very clearly in the letter to the church at Ephesus. Therefore, remember that you once Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision made in the flesh by hands, that at that time you were without Christ being aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. So he's saying this to the Gentiles. But of course, these Jewish Christians need to hear this same thing. For he himself is our peace who has made both one what both Jews and Gentiles. who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of separation. That middle wall of separation is a visible, physical structure at the temple that if Gentiles went beyond it, they were actually liable to be put to death. And every Jew was told to go to the temple during the feasts. They would have known about this. It was like a constant reminder before their eyes. What did Jesus do to that wall? He broke it down. And they want to keep it up. That's their problem. In some way, maybe not salvific, but in some way maintaining a meaningful distinction in their minds. It's very sad when we do these things. Because it really does not allow the full impact of the atonement to have its say in our community. For he himself is our peace who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in his flesh the enmity that is the law of commandments contained in ordinances. That's the ceremonial law, not the moral law. That's the ceremonial law going on. So as to create in himself one new man from the two, thus making peace and that he might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And he came and preached peace to you who are far off and to those who are near. For through him, we both have access by one spirit to the Father." This is Paul's heart. This is what Paul wants to see accomplished in God's church. So the Jerusalem church has been poisoned by gossip against Paul, and the church leaders have tolerated it instead of confronting it. Accusations they know to be false have been allowed to circulate. And instead of rebuking these misled Jewish converts, they will go on to place the burden upon Paul to fix a situation that he did not create. Now, these would have been legitimate grievances of Paul if he had brought them up, right? If they had called for another Senate, another council to come in and judge this issue, I think Paul would have had some legitimate grievances to how the church leaders in Jerusalem handled the slander that was taking place against him. The text says, they've been informed about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children or to walk according to the customs. And the rightfulness response should be, and Paul, we're investigating this so that we can confront those who are spreading slander about you, and we want to reassure you of this. And we're going to be taking care of this. So. What is the first false accusation? They say that he's teaching Jews to forsake Moses. So it is not true. Kaiser puts it this way. Did Paul tell the Jews to forsake Moses? Absolutely not. What's particularly troubling about this rumor is that the Greek word used for forsake Moses literally means apostasy against Moses. That's a strong accusation that should have been confronted by James. The only other time that that word for apostasy is used is in Second Thessalonians, chapter two, verse three, and it's referring to a heretical falling away from the faith. It's a very negative word. Paul was not an apostate against Moses. He was submitting to Mosaic revelation that pointed to the coming Messiah and the temporary nature of the ceremonial law. And then later in Acts 26, 22, Paul said, quote, that he had been saying, quote, saying no other things than those which the prophets and Moses said would come, unquote. He is, in effect, saying that everything he had been teaching could be found in the Old Testament. So the first discouraging rumor is that Paul has told Jews that they have to apostatize from Moses. And it's especially discouraging that the elders have not dealt with this slander. So either they're lying about him or they've misunderstood his teaching. And I know for me, probably for you as well, one of the hardest things in life is when you're misunderstood. Or even harder is when people just lie on you and just fabricate things about you. And I want us to note along the way that there's no evidence that Paul says one single word in his own defense along the way. False accusation number two. They're claiming he's saying, don't circumcise your children. The second false rumor must have made his heart sink just as much. Did Paul tell the Jews that they were not allowed to circumcise their babies? Absolutely not. He himself circumcised Timothy because in that situation, it didn't violate any principles that he had been fighting for. Obviously, some Jews have been ticked off by what they read in Galatians, and they are misrepresenting Paul. First Corinthians 719 said circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what matters. So Paul didn't care if Jews wanted to circumcise their children. He wasn't going to have an argument with them about that. He just did not want the Jews imposing this on the Gentiles as if it was some sort of necessity, and then telling them that they weren't saved until they got circumcised. He didn't even want Jews saying that Gentile Christians were second-class citizens without circumcision. Yes, you can continue to do this if you want to continue to do it, but keep it in its right place. Understand it properly. It's not required. You can do it if you want to, but keep it in its right place. Because this had already been settled in Acts 15, and to bring it up again is a bit disheartening. Isn't it disheartening to you? Think of Paul, all the work that he went through. teaching on this topic, traveling to Jerusalem for the Jerusalem Council. And now here it is again, right? So we just, we have to see Paul's patience here as well. He doesn't get discouraged. He doesn't say, you know what? Bye, I'll see you later. And you could see why he would be tempted to do that because he'd already worked so hard to get there. Paul is focused on Christ. Paul is focused on Christ's glory. Paul is considering Christ as he goes through this. He's not thinking of himself. False accusation number three, don't walk according to Jewish customs. Commentary says, this is Kaiser, and then verse 21 mentions the rumor that Paul was making Jews quit all the Jewish customs. This is so slanderous. It must have hurt Paul that James and the elders had even taken the charge seriously or they had let the believers get away with such gossip. All through Acts, we see Paul enjoying Jewish customs. He just doesn't see them as law anymore. He doesn't see them as required anymore. Next, we see in this text that the church leaders appear to fear congregational uprising more than they fear the Lord. It seems these leaders are hyper focused upon this one issue. They've got blinders on and are missing the larger picture of righteousness and God's plan for his worldwide church. It's it's as if they wish Paul had not come or that he would have just come secretly and given them the money and left really quick. Because they say, what then? The assembly must certainly meet for they will hear that you have come. Well, of course they would hear that he would come. You can tell they're like disappointed that the whole church is going to find out that he's going to be there and they're going to have this problem they have to deal with. So talk about having the wind taken out of your sails. There's Paul. Think about discouraging all of this must have been to Paul. It's remarkable to me that he makes no defense of himself against these slanders from the congregation. And I don't think it would have been wrong to make a defense. But he chose not to. And that is worth noting. Sometimes having your rights trampled before others and handling it like Jesus did is the strongest way to demonstrate the gospel. Sometimes. It requires wisdom. I think it's also remarkable that Paul doesn't rise up against the Jerusalem leadership, reminding them of his apostolic authority to work to demonstrate their failure and to rebuke them. He doesn't do this. There's a lot of things that he could have done there that would have been accurate. But what is he focused on? He's focused on what is best for God's church. He's focused on achieving the union and communion for which Jesus Christ shed his blood. He's imitating Christ once again. He should remind us of his words to the church at Philippi. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men and being found in appearance as a man. He humbled himself and became immediate to the point of death, even the death of the cross. So Paul was looking to Christ and he was looking to emulate Jesus in demonstrating the power of the gospel to bring the church together. Now, as we pass by this, it reminds me it's probably time for our regular gossip sermon. Because there's few things that can tear a church apart more quickly than your loose tongue, the one inside your mouth. I'm not talking about like an academic tongue. I'm talking about your tongue, my tongue inside of our mouths. And the ways that we can harm each other and harm this church through the words that we say. So take note of the harm of gossip amongst the church and how it can cause a great stirring up amongst the members and how that can tempt the church leaders into a fearful short-sightedness. It's a real mess when this is not dealt with. And it's as if the Jerusalem church is consumed by this one issue instead of being filled with love and gratitude and praise and joy in Jesus as they seek how they may build each other up in their common faith. and how they may be an example and a demonstration to the world around them of the love of Christ. Being consumed by the mission, the purpose, evangelism, discipleship, service. And the real question is, how are we like them sometimes? Right? I think it's a good question each of us can have some homework to ask yourself, how am I like them in this way sometimes? So going on with more of their response. Here's what they say. They want Paul's help. So, therefore do what we tell you. We have four men who have taken a vow. Take them and be purified with them and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads and that all may know that those things of which they were informed concerning you are nothing but that you yourself also walk orderly and keep the law. So we see here that they've already made a plan by having four men take a vow according to the ceremonial law and likely a Nazarite vow which we know Paul had already taken. So I want us to note here the pre-planning these leaders had been able to achieve within this short time of Paul's arrival. They're motivated. Instead of talking with Paul, bringing him in, praying together, seeking a shared path forward, getting some of the concerned church members about Paul, getting everybody together and trying to work through this as mature Christians, They come together, they make their own little plan, and then they tell Paul what to do. Do what we tell you, is what they say. Now, there's argument on this point, but I don't think Paul was required to submit to their instructions. He's not a member of their church, okay? I don't think they have this kind of authority in his life. But Paul chooses to submit to them. Commentary says, we have four men, Jews who believe, of our own churches, and they have a vow on them, a vow of Nazariteship for a certain time. Their time is now expired, and they are to offer their offering according to the law. When they shave the head of their separation, a he lamb for a burnt offering, a you lamb for a sin offering, and a ram for a peace offering, and other offerings pertinent to them. That's from Numbers. Many used to do this together when their vow expired about the same time, either for the greater expedition or for the greater solemnity. Now Paul having so far of late complied with the law as to take upon himself the vow of a Nazirite and to signify the expiration of it by shaving his head at Sincreia, which we saw in 1818, according to the custom of those who lived at a distance from the temple. So normally you do it at the temple, but he wasn't able to get there when the timeframe expired. They desire him to go a little further and to join with these four in offering the sacrifices of a Nazirite and they want him to pay for it. Right, so you counted all the animals there, times four, plus his own, that's times five, for him to pay for it himself. Because of their slander. Because of their misrepresentation of him. So, this is heavy, what they're asking Paul to do. So why did they want him to do this? You see, they want Paul to fix what he didn't break. and to prove to the ornery Jewish believers that their concerns regarding Paul are not true, but only misunderstanding. You know, as church leaders, I'll tell you, sometimes it's tempting not to take a side. You know, I don't know if they were demonstrating that kind of cowardice or not, but it's really tempting not to take a side. Right. So they're going to just like let Paul go do his thing and let it kind of work itself out and kind of detach themselves from it possibly. And you don't just pray against cowardice amongst church leaders. Me, Deacon Williner, others that you know. It's tempting. So instead of thanking Paul and his team, receiving them with joy and celebrating the Passover feast with he and his mostly Gentile team as a demonstration of the destruction of the middle wall of separation, I mean, what a great opportunity they had. The leaders burdened Paul with this vow. Not only the actions he had to take, it's not the easiest thing to go find all these animals, so it's time concern, but also it's costs. It's out of his own pocket. And in so doing, they neglect Paul's safety, taking it one step further, by putting him right in the midst of Jerusalem and the temple where the unconverted Jews can easily get to him, and that's what happens next. And this is a moment to stop and say, praise God for his providence. Because we can see as a result of this and the timing of it, all that unfolds in the remainder of the book of Acts demonstrates God's great commitment to the gospel. And we see Paul having opportunities to preach the gospel in places and to people that otherwise he would not have had an opportunity to do. Whether it's to Jewish leaders or Roman leaders, and we see Roman leader households coming to faith. They didn't necessarily mean it for good, But God did. So we can praise God for His providence. Now, in their defense, they want Paul to know that they do reaffirm the Jerusalem Council. But concerning the Gentiles who believe, we have written and decided that they should observe no such thing except that they should keep themselves from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. So they're making it clear to Paul, we're not asking you to put a burden on the Gentiles. So they reassure him. They're not changing their minds about the Jerusalem Council, and they quote that prior decree. The words here are a quote from it. The believing Gentiles are not being subject at all to the ceremonial law by this request. Except, now when we look back, here's the except. So what were they to be subjected to in the ceremonial law? That was the question of the Jerusalem Council. The way to understand it, by way of reminder, is that it's this section of the ceremonial law that's binding on Gentiles is binding upon them because it was binding upon all men before the Sinai covenant came into existence. And it continues binding upon all men until the end of the world. So there's that brief section there in Leviticus 17 and 18. Where there's a description given when you read it closely, you see it's not just to Jews. is to Jews and Gentiles. Kaiser says, let me remind you from our discussions of chapter 15 that this is not three ceremonial laws and one moral law. They're not saying that Gentiles can thus ignore all the other moral laws. He's not saying that Gentiles can still lie and murder, but just that they can't commit sexual immorality. No, he's talking about which ceremonial laws in Leviticus 17 through 18 continue to apply. Those laws, in the order given in Leviticus and the same order given here are one, about eating stuff sacrificed to idols, two, the blood laws, three, eating things strangled, and four, ceremonial laws related to marriage and sex. All four are ceremonial laws that continue into the New Testament. That had already been settled in Acts 15, and they were letting Paul know that they in no way wanted to violate the spirit of that. They want Paul to do something to mollify the prejudice and misunderstandings of Jews who feel like Paul is attacking their Jewishness and culture. But in the process, the joy of Paul's trip is spoiled with nitpicking. So here's Paul's response. He's demonstrating how to live peaceably with all men. I really hope that you all will continue to grow in this and really take this to heart. Because think about how easy it is, we've all been through this, to look at your own mistreatment. to look at how you have been mistreated. And you know what? It's so true. You're never more dangerous than when you know you are right. Paul was right in this situation, and he didn't need to be treated this way, but he chose the path that demonstrated the path that Christ took when he went to the cross as a sheep before its shearers was silent. Then Paul took them in and the next day, having been purified with them, entered the temple to announce the expiration of the days of purification, at which time an offering should be made for each one of them. So without a single word of protest, Paul does what is asked of him. Now, of course, we don't have a picture of his heart and what he thought and how he felt. But there's no recording of him complaining or mumbling or speaking up for himself or speaking ill of the leaders or the slandering Jews, Jewish Christians. So Paul apparently has concluded that this is the best path available to achieve the joyful unity amongst Jewish and Gentile believers that he so desires. Him being mistreated and not getting justice is a part of the process of achieving that more important goal than his own vindication. Paul apparently doesn't mind them thinking when he does this. Yeah, Paul needed to clarify it. I'm glad I'm glad Paul saw that he needed to clarify himself there. He apparently doesn't mind them thinking that about him. You know how it is. You want to make sure you get that little word in here and there. He didn't apparently feel the need to do any of that, and he appears to be even more so going beyond. He's willing to be smeared with these inaccuracies for the sake of Christ. He's willing to be smeared. Let's think about Paul's losses and his disappointments that he's been through. His strong desire for fellowship and unity amongst Jewish and Gentile believers. His desire for Jewish Christians to really receive and rejoice in the sacrificial love from Gentile brethren and to see them enjoying the communion of the saints together. He's been terribly misunderstood and or slandered and not really been under the protection, the shepherding protection of these church leaders in Jerusalem. His personal finances are taking a hit here. His time, his plans for while he was there for the feast are taking a hit as well. And he's had to kind of swim through the morass of the weakness and fear of the Jerusalem church leadership. Again, Paul said, imitate Christ as I do. And we want to recall the words of Hebrews 12, verse 3. You know, why do we have a cross on the wall? Why are the bread and wine in the center? Because we have to look to Christ, brothers and sisters. If we look anywhere else, we're going to have the outcome here. Listen, consider Christ, Him who endured such hostility against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your soul, So what will happen if you do not consider Christ, most especially when you are enduring hostility and mistreatment? You will become weary and discouraged in your soul. You'll give way to weariness. You'll give way to discouragement. You'll be sidelined by the devil. You'll be sidelined by your own sin. And you won't be walking in the strength and the glory of the gospel that can be such a beautiful thing like Paul does here. And of course Jesus deserved nothing but praise and honor and adoration in His sinless perfection and majesty. He truly experienced pure injustice. The truth about you and me is different, isn't it? The worst thing that anyone could ever say about you is probably not even but a tiny black spot on the reality of the fullness of your own sinfulness. Cheer up, you're a lot worse off than you think you are. And so when we get into that spot of considering Christ, obviously we compare, rightly so, our grand imperfections, sins, failures, to his infinite majesty and perfections, and look at what he went through and how he went through it. And that's what Paul did, and that's what he encourages us to do. I may sound like a broken record, but again, I'm very thankful for Jeremiah Burroughs and his book, sermon series that's become a book called The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment. Sermon preached in the midst of difficulties and the author even experiencing similar types of mistreatment himself at that time. He talks about how Christians can find the way to contentment in the midst of being mistreated, mistreated and maligned. Listen to what he says. Oh, but a Christian has another manner of way to ease himself. Others rail and speak ill of me, but did they not rail upon Jesus Christ and speak evil of him? And what am I in comparison to Christ and the subjection of Christ to such an evil? It was for me. that though such a thing should come upon me, I might know that the curse of it is taken away from me through Christ's subjection to that my evil. Thus a Christian can be contented when anybody speaks ill of them. So brothers and sisters, all of this demonstrates for us Paul's wisdom and humility flowing from his desire for Christ's name to be exalted among his people. It should grieve us to know that our hearts don't have that same desire. I think if you'll let this text be a a soul thermometer for you, you may find that the reading is down in the cold zone, down in the chilly region of the thermometer. Whereas if we had used a thermometer to test Paul's heart, maybe the mercury would have just shot out the top and broken the device. It should grieve us when we bump into our lack of love for God. And the good news is when we cry out to Him, He will send His Holy Spirit. He will reignite the flames of our hearts. If you lost your flaming love for God, brothers and sisters, I have sometimes. I find my heart cold towards Him. And if you do too, cry out to Him for His fire to come and warm your heart for Him. that you would consider Christ like Paul showed us to do. That you would long for Christ's name to be exalted and you would not give one whit of concern about your own name being smashed in the mud as long as the name of Jesus is lifted high. When your name is trampled low, His name will be lifted high. So Paul is willing to go to any end except for sin. to see the church of God grow and mature. I'll close with this text from Romans 12, where Paul gives this kind of instruction to the church of Rome, again, written just a few years prior to this. But love be without hypocrisy, abhor what is evil, cling to what is good, be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor, giving preference to one another. Did he give preference to the Jewish Christians? Not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. Did he serve himself? He served Christ's name, didn't he? Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer, distributing to the needs of the saints, giving to hospitality, Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion. Repay no one evil for evil. Did he repay the Jewish Christians with evil? Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. And here it is. If it is possible. Now that's a lot. Think about what that means. If it is possible. Think of the prioritization that Paul is giving to this. Do we rightly prioritize peace? Union and communion like Paul did. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. May the Lord bless this. to grow us up in this kind of thinking and living in our lives. Let us pray. Almighty and gracious Heavenly Father, Lord, we acknowledge that so often, even when it is possible and it does depend on us, we don't consider living peaceably with all men. Instead, Lord, we focus on our own rights and justice and fairness for ourselves. Oh, Father, forgive us. Help us to be like Jesus. Help us to consider him. Help us to remember this wonderful example of Paul. Help us to grow up. In living peaceably with all men, we ask father. For your glory, oh God, in Jesus name, amen.