Opening: Everyone knows that is the right thing to do. You know it; your friends
know it; your spouse knows it; your parents know it; EVERYONE! But how do you
feel when someone you love still does the wrong thing? How about when you,
though you know the right thing to do, still do the wrong thing?
Scripture: Read Acts 21:1-16.
Insights:
- Today’s passage records the end of Paul’s Third Missionary Journey with stops at various places as he makes his way to Jerusalem to report to the leaders (see Acts 15:1-31; 18:22). Note that there are believers all along his way, evidence that the Church is really spreading out.
- Luke records for the second and third time that if Paul goes to Jerusalem, there will be trouble. In Acts 20:22-23, Paul said, “But now I must obey the Holy Spirit and go to Jerusalem. I don't know what will happen to me there. I know only that in every city the Holy Spirit tells me that troubles and even jail wait for me.”[1] Here in Acts 21:4 and 10-12, prophets warned him not to go to Jerusalem. But like Jesus, Paul’s mind was set: on to Jerusalem![2]
- Remember Philip? He was selected along with Stephen to administer the food distribution to widows (see Acts 6:5). He became an evangelist in his own right, most notably to the Ethiopian eunuch (see Acts 8:4-41).
- Fifteen years earlier, Agabus had predicted the famine in Jerusalem (see Acts 11:27-29). Christian tradition tells us that Agabus was one of the Seventy Two (see Luke 10:1-17). And as was the custom of Jewish prophets, when words were inadequate, they dramatized their message.[3]
Life
Questions:
- It is clear that the Holy Spirit revealed to many the difficulties Paul would encounter when he arrived in Jerusalem. Even Paul knew it, and though others warned him not to go, he did anyway. Was he being disobedient and hardheaded in insisting on going to Jerusalem? Or were his friends hoping to talk him out of going? How would you feel if Paul was your personal friend and you knew he was heading into a trap but wouldn’t listen to you?
- Paul wrote to the people of Rome about the struggle to overcome sin in one’s life. Read Romans 7:14-25. We may know what we should do, yet we at times do the opposite. It is the experience of God-followers throughout history. Yet Paul comes to the conclusion that our answer to this turmoil is Jesus (see Romans7:24-25)!
Prayer
Focus: That we would not only know what God wants us to
do, and that we would do it, not matter what the consequences might be.
