Spiritual Contention: Make it about the good news of Jesus and the Resurrection

How Can We Joyfully Give Glory to God in a Contentious World?

(Acts 21:15-26, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, May 26, 2013)

[15] After these days we got ready and went up to Jerusalem. [16] And some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us, bringing us to the house of Mnason of Cyprus, an early disciple, with whom we should lodge.

When Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus about the Christian life, he called himself in Ephesians 4:1 “a prisoner for the Lord.” He went on to urge them to follow Him as servants of Christ, urging them “to walk in a manner worthy of the calling” with which they had been called, “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

He went on to say, “There is one body.” This was a theme that Paul had already developed in an earlier chapter in Ephesians. The one body of Christ was made up of Jew and Gentile. The fact that body of Christ was one was a great cause for celebration. But not everyone was celebrating. Paul lived in a contentious world. Some of the strife was inside the church.

Compelled by the Spirit, he went on to Jerusalem, knowing that he would face trouble and persecution there. He had been warned in every city about this coming tribulation, and he had become spiritually prepared for the years that were ahead of him, years of trial and imprisonment. Paul was able to give glory to God in a contentious world. How did he do that?

[17] When we had come to Jerusalem, the brothers received us gladly. [18] On the following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present. [19] After greeting them, he related one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. [20] And when they heard it, they glorified God.

Paul knew what the Lord had already brought him through. He was not a stranger to controversy. Through those years of ministry in Macadonia, Achaia, Asia, and Galatia, Paul had seen that the Lord was able to bring fruit from the preaching of the cross. His ministry in places like Ephesus and Corinth would change the world. When Paul arrived in Jerusalem and talked to the church leaders there, they joined with Paul in giving glory to God for what had already taken place.

And they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed. They are all zealous for the law, [21] 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. [22] What then is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come.

But these leaders also acknowledged that Jerusalem was not a very safe place for Paul. Why? Because the Jewish world was in turmoil over the preaching of the Messiah to the Gentiles. Enemies of Paul had seen their synagogues disrupted by this new Word. They wondered why the preaching of Jesus as the Christ could not coexist with the customs of Old Testament purity that they considered to be the eternal law of God, at least for those who were Jews.

Paul's enemies in the province of Asia and beyond had spread a false report that Paul taught Jews to abandon Jewish customs from the Law of Moses. This enraged many Jews, both the thousands that had embraced Jesus as the Messiah, and the thousands that had rejected Jesus. These two groups found common ground in believing that Jews were still to follow certain ceremonial provisions of the Law that marked them as distinct from the world. They believed that the God of heaven and earth still had a purpose in the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob being distinct from others as Jews.

Paul agreed with them. See Romans 11. Paul was convinced that the Lord had a purpose in maintaining Judaism for some time to come. In Christ, the dividing wall of hostility between Jew and Gentile was gone. Christ had fulfilled the Law. Gentiles did not have to become Jews in order to become Christians. But Paul was not urging Jews to be Gentiles. Paul was vehemently against Jewish customs being preached as a part of the gospel. The gospel was Jesus Christ, our propitiation. The gospel was the love of God coming to us through Jesus, and now going out through us in a life, not of mere ceremonial holiness, but of true love as prisoners for the Lord in all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Paul was vehemently against circumcision and worship practices like Old Testament vows becoming a distraction that turned people away from the only message that can really be called “good news,” the message of Jesus and the love of God. The preaching of circumcision was not good news. Urging people to place themselves under voluntary Old Testament vows was not good news. Christ as our circumcision and our true vow-keeper who redeemed us through His death and leads us forward in love through the power of His resurrection was the gospel.

[23] Do therefore what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow; [24] 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.

This did not mean that Paul was taking away the right of Jews to continue to be Jews. He believed in that right, and he believed that there would continue to be observant Jews as more and more Gentiles gave their lives to a Jewish Messiah without having to become Jews. Paul was a Jew. He had recently been under a vow. But he knew that Jewish customs and other arguments concerning the law were a divisive distraction that needed to be avoided.

Paul made this clear in at least three places in his letters: “For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God.” (1 Corinthians 7:19) “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.” (Galatians 5:6) “For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.” (Galatians 6:15)

[25] But as for the Gentiles who have believed, we have sent a letter with our judgment that they should abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality.” [26] Then Paul took the men, and the next day he purified himself along with them and went into the temple, giving notice when the days of purification would be fulfilled and the offering presented for each one of them.

The apostles and elders in Jerusalem had already spoken regarding the Gentiles. See Acts 15. Now it was their advice to Paul that he demonstrate to Jews that the rumors about him making a stand against circumcision and Jewish customs for Jews were incorrect. He was willing to do this. Though it would not work. Yet Paul knew what mattered and He was prepared not only to preach what mattered, but even to suffer for Jesus and the resurrection. He was prepared to be a new creation. He was ready to let faith work itself out in love in Jerusalem. He was willing to put his life on the line to keep the true abiding commandments of God. Are we spiritually prepared to speak and to live out the good news of Jesus and the resurrection in a world and a church environment where everyone wants to get us all excited about some other issue?

Old Testament Passage: Deuteronomy 23:21-23 – If you make a vow to the Lord...

Gospel Passage: John 19:23-24 – They divided my garments

Sermon Point: We are under a powerful divine vow that moves us together in love for Christ and His church.