The Word Made Plain

Guest (Male): Welcome to The Word Made Plain with Senior Pastor Tony Clark of Calvary Chapel Newport News in Virginia. Currently, Pastor Tony is teaching a study in the book of Acts. Please open your Bibles to Acts chapter 21, verses 18 through 25.

Tony Clark: And Father, we are so grateful that we can have Your Word. Thank You for giving us the Word of God to lead us and guide us through this life that we live. Lord, we pray that Your Holy Spirit would take the Word of God and apply it to our hearts and our lives. In Jesus' name, amen.

Acts chapter 21, looking at verses 18 to 25. The title of this message is "Making Peace Part 1." Throughout life, as you know, all of us have had broken or fractured relationships with people. It is unavoidable. But how do we deal with them? Do we ignore them, avoid them, or pretend that they don't exist? As believers, Jesus taught us, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God," in Matthew 5:9.

So, one of the characteristics of being children of God is that we will seek to have peace with people, and this is the subject of these verses. Now, by way of background, Paul had just arrived in Jerusalem, and the brethren received them gladly according to verse 17. Now we pick it up in verses 18 to 19 to see what happened once they arrived there.

Look what it says there. It says, "On the following day, Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present. When he had greeted them, he told them in detail those things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry." The day after they arrived in Jerusalem, Paul and his traveling companions went into the church in Jerusalem to meet with James. James is the half-brother of Jesus, who had become the leader of the early church while the original apostles went out doing missionary work.

Verse 18 ends by telling us that all of the elders or leaders of the church were present. This must have been something very important that all of them came to gather together to hear what Paul had to tell them. This had to be an important meeting. After exchanging pleasantries, verse 19 says that Paul told them in detail those things God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.

The way that the Greek is constructed, the phrase "in detail" means that Paul told them one by one the things God did among the Gentiles. Don't miss this. Not "this is what I did," the Apostle Paul. He didn't say that. Or "this is what my team did." No, he said, "This is what God did." The humility of Paul was incredible.

This is how to stay usable for God: by constantly telling people what God is doing and not boasting about what you are doing. Social media has us bad with this because if we're not careful, we will constantly be boasting about what we're doing instead of boasting about what the Lord is doing. There's nothing wrong with boasting in the Lord, so to speak, but always have the attention go on the Lord. James 4:10 says, "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up."

Matthew 5:16 says, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." The word "glorify," the Greek word is *doxazo*. It's where we get our English word "doxology." It means to speak well of. We want to do things in such a way that people are speaking well of our God. This is the point that's being made.

Did this happen in Paul's case? Yes. Look at verse 20. It says, "And when they heard this, they glorified the Lord." Who did they glorify? The Lord. The same should be true in our lives. We should live in such a way that the people around us will glorify or speak well of our Lord and perhaps want a relationship with Him.

Look at verses 20 and 21. "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.'"

The leaders of the church were thrilled to hear what God was doing through Paul in the lives of the Gentile believers, but they expressed a concern as well. They explained it by saying in verse 20, "You see, brother," embracing Paul as a brother. I want you to notice that. I had to point that out. They were embracing Paul as a brother when, at one time, he was their number one enemy.

I just wonder, have you matured enough in your walk with Christ that you can embrace someone as a brother or a sister who was once your enemy? Whether that person is an ex-spouse, a once-best friend, or a close relative. Can you put the offense behind you and embrace them as a brother like they did with Paul? This shows real maturity, and I just wonder, have you matured in your walk with Christ enough to where you can do this as well?

So, they went on to explain their concern to Paul. They said, "You see," and let me draw your attention to the word "see." *Theoreo* is the Greek word, and it means to perceive, to discern, or to reflect on. In other words, they were saying, "Paul, you can discern or you can see it too." The question is, see what? Notice what they said: "How many myriads of Jews." *Myriades* is the Greek word for "myriad," and it can be translated as tens of thousands.

They're saying, "You can see how many tens of thousands of Jews there are who believed." Why is this a concern? Because if they're expressing a concern to Paul, why is this a concern? Shouldn't this have been some great news? Tens of thousands of Jews coming to Christ? Yes, but there is one problem. The end of verse 20 says, "And they are all zealous for the law."

The Greek text uses the noun for "zealous," or it can be translated as "zealots." Now, the Zealots were a radical group of Jews who were descendants from the Maccabean Revolt of 167 to 160 B.C. They were still around during the days of Jesus, who tried through hand-to-hand combat to overthrow Rome. It is believed that Barabbas was a Zealot according to Mark 15:7.

A myriad of these Jews were coming to Christ and bringing their radical ways into the church, and the leaders were concerned about it. We should be concerned as well when people are bringing zealot tendencies into the church, wanting to fight with the world, using any means necessary to further the cause of Christ in their minds, using hand-to-hand combat if necessary.

When such zealots come into the church, it needs to be dealt with and corrected because Jesus has called us to be peacemakers and not troublemakers. In this case, these Jewish believers were zealots for the law, referring to the Law of Moses. They tell Paul in verse 21 that they, referring to these Jewish zealots, 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.

In other words, when these radical believers hear that you're in Jerusalem, they're going to want to do you some harm, Paul. Josephus, that first-century Jewish historian, talks about this time period as a time period filled with political unrest and Jewish nationalism, and this was in A.D. 56 or A.D. 57.

These Jewish believers were saved, but they continued to keep their Jewish feast days, observing the Sabbath and ritual vows. They did these things until they fully understood that Jesus was the fulfillment of them. This Christian thing was all new to the Jews at this particular time, and all they knew was their Jewish rituals and traditions that had been around for centuries.

The Christianity thing was just a new thing. All they knew was their Jewish way of life, so they were accepting Christ but still trying to live under the Law of Moses. You say, "Well, they should have known better." Well, it's no different than you holding on to your cultural traditions while still embracing Jesus Christ until you understand how many of them are unbiblical. Then the ones that are, you begin to lay them aside one by one.

So the question becomes: how can Paul try to make peace with these radical Jewish believers in the church? What counsel did these leaders give Paul? Look at verses 22 to 24. It says, "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."

The leaders knew that these Jewish believers who were radical for the Law of Moses would not be happy to hear that Paul, who was the apostle to the Gentiles according to Romans 11:13, was in Jerusalem. So they said to him in verse 22, "What then?" or "What then is to be done?" They decided to meet to discuss the matter, for they will hear through rumor that you have come to Jerusalem.

In verse 23, we see what the leaders of the church decided to have Paul do. They tell him that we have four men who have taken a vow. From the description given by the elders, it would appear that this was a Nazirite vow, described for us in Numbers chapter 6, verses 13 to 21, which symbolizes a separation to God.

The person had to let their hair grow during this time, not eat raisins nor grapes, and they couldn't touch nor go near anything dead. We know that the most famous person in the Bible who was a Nazirite from birth was Samson from Judges chapters 13 through 16. They told Paul in verse 24 to take the four men and be purified with them.

Some scholars suggest that the leaders told Paul to be purified with them because he had just got back from Gentile or non-Jewish territory, and many of the Jewish believers would think that Paul was unclean and they will not receive nor have anything to do with him, let alone hear anything he had to say. So they told him to be purified with them.

They also told Paul to pay their expenses or to sponsor them. It is obvious that these men were either too poor to pay for the expenses or they just wanted Paul to sponsor them to show good faith. So Paul is being told to do it. This would show these Jewish zealots that the rumors about Paul telling the people not to keep the law were untrue, "but that you yourself also walk orderly and keep the law."

As verse 24 goes on to say, once the Nazirite vow was over, they shaved their heads and offered up sacrifices connected to the Nazirite vow. To go through all of this would mean that you would miss work, which the sponsor, Paul in this case, would cover the expenses of wages lost during this time.

Where did Paul get the money to sponsor these four men? It is believed from the Gentile offerings he was bringing back to help the struggling Jerusalem church who were going through a severe famine. Paul, who wrote Romans chapter 10, verse 4, says Christ is the end of the law to everyone who believes.

In other words, Christ is the end of the sacrificial law. So, with this in mind, why would he submit to what the Jerusalem elders were telling him to do? Why would he do this? Because he wanted to make peace with his Jewish brothers and sisters. He had a heart for them, and he expressed that in Romans 10, verse 1. He had a heart for his people like I've never seen anyone have a heart for any other group of people.

He said in Romans 10, verse 1, "My heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel that they might be saved." He said in Romans 9:3, listen to this: "I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh." Let me boil it down and bring it home to you because you don't realize what he is saying. He says, "I wish that I could go to hell or be eternally condemned if it would mean that my Jewish people would be saved."

That blows me away. I love you out there folks, but I ain't gonna go to hell for you. Paul was something different. He was a different kind of cat here. This is what he was saying. What a heart! He looked at what they told him to do as nothing if it meant that he could have peace with the Jewish community. Why? Because he had a heart to see them saved. They were the last people he wanted to offend. He never wanted to offend them because he wanted to see them saved.

So Paul is like, "If this is all I got to do in order to make peace with these precious people that I love, when do I start?" And that was his heart. Paul would later say, watch this, in 1 Corinthians 9, verses 19 to 23, "I am free." But he says he would become a servant to all so that he can save some. Watch this: "To the weak I became weak. To the Jew I became a Jew." Why? Because he said, "I have become all things to all men, that by all means I might save some."

What an attitude to have! What a heart towards people. I just wonder what you are willing to do without sin. I'm going to pause right there. Without sin to see someone saved or to make peace with someone. Paul is not talking about doing sinful things. He didn't have to do that Nazirite vow nor offer any sacrifices, but if it would open up a door for him to make peace with them and tell them the truth about Jesus Christ, he was willing to do it.

I am not talking about, and I've heard Christians say this too, and I was greatly stumbled when I heard it. Paul was not talking about going out to drink alcoholic beverages, smoke, or party with your unbelieving relatives, coworkers, and friends. No. We are called to have contact with them without being contaminated by them.

How can you be a light to them when you are partaking of the darkness with them? Ephesians 5:11 says, "Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them." So what are you willing to do to reach people? Either reach them in salvation or reach them, don't miss this, in reconciliation. Paul was willing to go to the Temple and participate in this Nazirite vow to reach other Jewish people. The question is, what about you? What are you willing to do to reach people? How far out of your comfort zone are you willing to go in order to reach people?

I'm not talking about you going out and having a few brews with them. I've heard Christians say that. That's not what we talking about. That's not what Paul meant by being all things to all men, that by all means I might save some. You cannot participate in the unfruitful works of darkness and think you're going to reach them. We reach them by bringing light, not by participating in the darkness. Somebody needs to hear that today because you have misinterpreted Paul saying, "I become all things to all men," by thinking you need to partake in sin in order to reach your unbelieving friends and coworkers and relatives, and that's not true. The Bible says have no dealings with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. We speak the truth in love.

Look at what it says there in verse 25. "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." However, concerning the Gentile believers, they have already instructed that they didn't have to do these Jewish rituals in Acts 15, verses 19 to 21.

They mention this here to Paul just in case Paul was thinking that they changed their mind on this that they ruled on eight years ago in chapter 15. So they're reiterating to him, "No, we still hold true that the Gentiles didn't have to do this sort of thing." The Gentiles were to still keep themselves, notice, from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality.

Now, these are things that we should keep ourselves from as well. You say, "Well, what do you mean?" From idols. An idol is anything or anyone that comes in between us and our relationship with God. Evaluate your life right now. Do you have an idol in between you and your relationship with God? Anything you give your time, talent, and treasures to more than God, then that is your idol. I don't care what that is.

We need to keep ourselves from idols. I think it's 1 John 5:21. It says, "Little children, keep yourselves from idols." Keep yourselves from those things that will find itself wedged in between you and your relationship with God. I don't care what that is. It can be TV, it can be sports, it can be social media. Anything or anyone that wedges its way in between our relationship with God becomes an idol. And we need to keep ourselves from idols.

We need to keep ourselves from blood. Those blood and guts movies that flood the market and the movie theaters. A constant diet of this is not good. It's just not good. I love a good old man movie, shoot 'em up, blow 'em up. I love a good man movie, but I'm telling you, a constant diet of these things, you know what it will cause us to do? It will cause us to lose a sensitivity towards humankind, a sensitivity towards people. Because all we're seeing is blow 'em up, shoot 'em up, revenge, and all that kind of stuff. And it will cause us to lose a sensitivity towards people because we're seeing people blown up, heads blown off, legs blown off.

And after a constant diet of that stuff, I'm telling you, head blown off or leg blown off, it means nothing to us. We so desensitized to it. We need to keep ourselves from blood. And this is for all of us. All of us keep ourselves from blood. We need to also keep ourselves from things strangled. Anything that will strangle or, watch this, or suffocate the Word of God and spiritual things out of our lives.

Like Mark 4, verse 19 says. Notice it says, "The cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke—choke the Word of God, and it becomes unfruitful." These things can strangle or choke the Word of God out of our lives. The cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and thinking that the more money I have, the happier I'll be. That's why it's called the deceitfulness of riches. They deceive us into thinking the more we have, the happier we'll be, and that's not the case.

And then maybe it's not the cares of this world. Maybe it's not the deceitfulness of riches. Maybe it's just the desires for other things. "I'm just into other things now, Pastor Tony." Oh, notice how it says it enters in and it chokes the Word of God, strangles, cut off the air supply of the Word of God that's supposed to bring life to our bodies, supposed to bring life to us spiritually. It chokes the air supply to our spiritual lives, and we become unfruitful. I believe that there's many of you who are going through this right now. Maybe it is the cares of this world. Maybe for some of you it's the deceitfulness of riches.

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