After
completing his third missionary journey, Paul set out for Jerusalem. Along the
way, he visited various towns (v. 1-4). In his travels he was given two
prophecies from believers that warned him of the hardship to come in Jerusalem
(v. 4, 11). But Paul was determined. He knew God had a purpose for him in
Jerusalem and was willing to risk everything to serve Jesus (v. 13). When Paul
and his companions arrived in Jerusalem, they went to visit James and the
elders (v. 18). Paul shared the testimony of everything God had done and the
believers rejoiced (v. 19-20). In this meeting, the elders shared that false
reports had been circulating about Paul (v. 21). People were saying that Paul
was encouraging Jewish Christians to turn from, or rebel against, the Law.
While Paul did teach that following the Law was not the path to salvation (Acts
15:7-11), the broader context of his ministry shows that he didn’t teach people
to entirely forsake the law (v. 25, Acts 15: 20-21, Romans 14). To counter the
rumours, Paul took the elders’ advice and paid for four men to take a temporary
Nazarite vow (v. 22-24).
A
few days later, a group of Jews from Asia saw Paul and began slandering him and
stirring up the crowd (v. 27-29). The whole city was provoked against Paul (v.
30). A riot began and men beat Paul (v. 30-31). They were only stopped because
the commander of the Roman troops intervened (v. 31-32). The commander arrested
Paul, but could not get a clear charge of wrongdoing from the crowd. He decided
to take Paul to the barracks (v. 33-34). The next verses show that the
commander was confused – he thought Paul was an entirely different person (v.
38)! Paul explained who he was and asked to make one final address to the
people (v. 39-40). The story pauses here, leaving us anticipating what Paul
will say.
Journaling and Prayer
1. Rumours circulated about Paul because people
took one aspect of his teaching and jumped to inaccurate conclusions. Ask God
to show you a time when you judged someone too quickly. Confess and ask for His
forgiveness.
2. By encouraging Paul to help men take a Nazarite
vow, the elders were not saying that the Law was a requirement for salvation.
Rather, they implied that the Law could be beneficial in living a life
dedicated to God. The Law is God’s way of telling us how He wants us to live.
When viewed as a way of obtaining forgiveness of sins, rituals are harmful.
When undertaken as a way to re-focus one’s mind and set oneself apart for God’s
use, rituals are helpful. Contemporary examples of this are helpful. We do not
earn salvation by going on a church retreat or practicing the spiritual
disciplines (prayer, fasting, meditation, etc.), but they can help us focus on
God, which allows us to become closer to Him. ask God to search your heart. Do
you act as though rituals and disciplines are your salvation or do you use them
only as a way of drawing near to God. Ask God how he wants you to use spiritual
disciplines to draw closer to Him.
3. Pray for Israel. Ask God to strengthen Messianic
churches. Pray that Christian Jews would win the favour of their friends,
neighbours and co-workers by living their lives wholeheartedly for Christ. Pray
that many would be won by the testimony of the Messianic churches. Ask God to
protect Israel from her enemies. Pray that many people in Israel would be drawn
to study the Hebrew Scriptures and find that they point to Jesus.
