120 Acts 21:15-20a PAULS WARM RECEPTION BY THE JERUSALEM BRETHREN Introduction: In our previous text we see that Paul was determined to go on to Jerusalem in spite of repeated warnings that if he did he would endure sufferings there. He was determined to go because he understood that it was the will of the Lord for him to go. He was resigned to doing the will of God even though it would mean that he would have to suffer. He was willing to suffer for Jesus. He was willing even to die for Jesus. In our text today we will see that Paul received a mixed reception at Jerusalem even from his own Christian brethren. There were Christians who welcomed him warmly and there were those who were outright hostile toward him. I. The help that Paul received on his journey from Caesarea to Jerusalem This is the last leg of Paul’s journey from Macedonia and Achaia with a supply of goods and monies collected by the Gentile churches to aid the church at Jerusalem in time of great drought. During his stop at Caesarea a prophet by the name of Agabus had taken the girdle which Paul used to bind his robe around his waist and bound his own hands and feet. He then declared that at Jerusalem Paul would be so bound. He would be taken a prisoner. But Paul disregarded this warning just as he had disregarded all the previous warnings. It was not that Paul did not believe the words of God’s prophet. Rather, it was that Paul was resigned to doing the will of God even if it meant he would have to suffer. So after a short stay at Caesarea he and Luke and all of the group who had accompanied him on this trip left Caesarea and headed toward Jerusalem. V. 15, “And after those days we took up our carriages, and went up to Jerusalem.” The word, carriages, in this verse does not mean vehicles in which they would ride. Rather it means things which they would carry. They would, of course, need to carry supplies for themselves. They would have extra clothing and other personal items to carry. They would also have a large supply of food items and other goods which the Gentile churches had collected for them to carry to aid the Jerusalem Christians in their time of drought. They also had a bag or, perhaps, several bags of money which the Gentile churches were sending to the Jerusalem church to help the starving Christians there. I am sure that you are award that this was not paper money. It was coins and a large number of coins is heavy. I suppose that the way that we would express this statement today would be to say, “We took up our luggage and went to Jerusalem.” That is, they walked to Jerusalem. They were no longer riding in a ship and they apparently did not have animals on which to load their bags. They had to walk to Jerusalem and carry all of this stuff. I am sure that it was heavy when they left Caesarea and it must have seemed much heavier as they went along. Listen, sometimes serving the Lord involves doing hard physical work. One who is going to serve the Lord must be willing to work. Not all of God’s work is hard physical work, but some of it is and one who would serve the Lord must be willing to work. There is another thing that I want you to note about this verse. Luke and the other Christian brethren who had companied Paul on this journey must have known by now that Paul was going to endure some kind of abuse and hardships at Jerusalem. They knew that Paul would be bound as a prisoner. They must have also known that if they went with him on this last leg of the journey to Jerusalem that they, too, were subject also to being mistreated. If they were with Paul, they too might be bound and imprisoned. But they, too, were resigned to doing the work of God and they were willing to suffer in order to do God’s work. Listen, we as Christians have had relatively little suffering to do in order to serve Jesus. We have had work to do, but we have had very little mistreatment and abuse just because we are Christians. In our day relatively few Christians have been bound and imprisoned and tortured and killed just because there were Christians. But we may be entering into a time when all Christians will have to be willing to suffer for Jesus if we are going to be of service to Him. Frankly, I do not know how I would react to that kind of test. But I pray God that I would be as faithful to serve God under that kind of condition as Paul and the brethren with him on that journey were. V. 16, “There went with us also [certain] of the disciples of Caesarea, and brought with them one Mnason of Cyprus, an old disciple, with whom we should lodge.” Not only were Luke and Titus and Timothy and others from Macedonia and Achaia willing to go with Paul on to Jerusalem, but some of the Christian brethren from the church at Caesarea also went with him. They, too, were willing to work for Jesus and, they, too, were willing to suffer for Jesus. They knew that they could assist Paul in the work. They knew that their presence would be protection on the road to help guard against bandits and robbers. They probably felt that they might be of some help to Paul when he would be bound as Agabus had predicted. At least they would be there to try to help. One of the brethren by the name of Mnason actually had his home at Jerusalem and would provide a place where Paul and his companions could stay while they were at Jerusalem. He would provide food and lodging. That would be a big help. II. A warm reception at Jerusalem by a group of the Jerusalem brethren V. 17, “And when we were come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly.” When the group arrived at Jerusalem, they were welcomed by a group of the Jerusalem brethren. Luke says, “...the brethren received us gladly.” They were, of course, glad to see the large amount of money and supplies to the Jerusalem church which they needed badly. They must have been overwhelmed by the generosity of the Gentile people who had sent such a large offering to them. They were overjoyed. They must have also been overjoyed to see the Apostle Paul again. They had one feared this man and they had good reason to fear him. He had been a fierce opponent of the Christians and had made havoc of the church there at Jerusalem imprisoning many of them. But Barnabas, whom they knew well convinced them that Paul was now a saved man, a changed man and a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ. They had learned to love the man they had once feared and they were so very glad to see him. Listen, when you love Jesus it is a great joy to be around somebody else whom you know also loves Jesus. It is a joy to be with people who believe in Jesus and love Jesus and serve Jesus. That is why it is such a great privilege to come to church and meet with our fellow Christians. That is why that sometimes we can hardly wait for Sunday or Wednesday to come around. We get to go to church and be with people who love the Lord Jesus Christ. III. A warm reception by James and the elders of the Jerusalem church But the group of Jerusalem Christians who met with Paul and his companions were only a relatively small part of the church membership. Even James, whom Bible scholars believe to have become the pastor of the Jerusalem church, was not in that welcoming committee. V. 18, “And the [day] following Paul went in with us unto James; and all the elders were present.” The fact that James’ name was specifically mentioned and the fact that the elderly men who were leaders in the church were with James, gives strong evidence that James was at this time the pastor of the church. Also the fact that Paul felt obliged to go to see James and the elders gives further evidence that James was the pastor. This along with other evidences in Scripture is pretty convincing that James was the pastor even though the Scriptures do not say just who the pastor was. V. 19, “And when he had saluted them...” Paul was the chief spokesman for his group. Luke says that Paul saluted James and the elders who were with James. Now this does not mean that Paul gave the traditional military salute that we are familiar with. It means that Paul gave them a warm brotherly greeting. He expressed his joy at being able to come to see them and he must have especially expressed his joy at being able to bring a large offering from the Gentile Christians had sent to assist them in their time of need. (V. 19), “...he declared particularly what things God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry.” It must have been with great joy that Paul related to them how that God had blessed his ministry, that many lost souls had been saved, that many churches had been established and that now those churches had so generously contributed the large amount of goods and money which he and his companions had brought to them. Paul rejoiced in this, but he was careful not to take credit for himself. He sincerely gave God all the credit and all of the praise for this accomplishment. Paul never spoke of what he had accomplished. He spoke joyfully of what God had accomplished. V. 20, “And when they heard [it], they glorified the Lord...” James and the elders of the Jerusalem church also received Paul and his companions warmly. I am sure that they must have expressed their great appreciation to Paul and to the Gentile Christians who had contributed so generously to their need. They truly needed these supplies and the money which could by other needed supplies. I a sure that they did not neglect to express their gratitude. But Luke does not even mention their expressions of gratitude toward Paul and the Gentile churches. Rather, he focuses his attention on the fact that they glorified the Lord. They expressed praises to God for using Paul to reach lost souls. They praised the Lord for saving Gentile people who had been lost and hell bound. They rejoiced that God not only saves Jews but that He also saves Gentiles. They rejoiced that churches had been started among Gentile people to teach the Gentiles the truths of God. They rejoiced that Gentile people who had once lived in an ungodly lifestyle were now saved and were living pure, morally clean, godly lives to the honor and glory of God. And while they must have been appreciative that Paul had devoted his life to preaching to the Gentiles, they, like Paul gave God all of the praise and all of the glory for what had been accomplished. So even though the prophet Agabus and others had been moved upon by the Holy Spirit of God to sound out the warning that Paul would suffer if he were to go on to Jerusalem, yet God was gracious to Paul and gave him a warm welcome by the brethren and by the leaders of the Jerusalem church. He was given the kind of welcome that would warm his own heart. It was the kind of welcome that he would remember and cherish for a long time to come. It was the kind of welcome which would lift his spirit and help to prepare him to face the hardships which he knew were in store for him in the days ahead. He would remember that these brethren loved him and appreciated him and would be praying for him when the predicted trouble would come. IV. Paul’s experience an example of what the Christian life is like Paul was forewarned that at Jerusalem he would experience hardship, pain, mistreatment and great difficulties. In our text today we did not get far enough in the record to see the pain and suffering that had been predicted, but we know that if we had gone far enough we would have gotten to that part. We know that the pain and suffering would come for Paul just as it had been predicted. What we did read and study about in this text was the good part. It was about the faithfulness of Paul’s companions to go with him all the way into Jerusalem. It was about their own willingness to provide the physical help and labor that he needed to carry all those goods and moneys to Jerusalem. Paul could hardly have carried all of those goods and those heavy coins all by himself . He needed their help and they were faithful to go with him and help him even though going with them might put them in danger. They took the risk. They did the hard work. They stuck with him through thick and thin. It was about the good help and assistance that the Caesarea Christians provided for Paul and his companions. Their presence with Paul and his companions on the road helped to provide safety and was a deterrent to potential highway robbers who lurked along the way. We can almost be certain that there were robbers waiting at some place where they could pounce upon Paul and his companions and relieve them of all that loot that they were carrying to the Jerusalem church. But the Caesarean brethren increased their numbers to the point that it would make a potential robber reluctant to attempt a robbery. In addition they would be provided a place where they could room and board. They would not only get bed and breakfast, but they would be fed every meal. This text was about the warm reception by a group of the Jerusalem brethren which they received on the day of their arrival at Jerusalem. It was as though the Jerusalem brethren had gotten word of their coming and had arranged a welcome committee to greet them upon the day of their arrival. And I suspect that is just what happened. For Paul and his companions it was a joyous experience. Then in this text we saw the joyous reception which was given to Paul and his group by James, the pastor of the Jerusalem church, and by the other leaders of the church who assisted James. They were met with open arms and open hearts from the top leadership in the church. They could not have asked for anything better. It really made all of the time and labor and sacrifices that they had made in order to make this trip worthwhile. Oh, they knew that there were still hardships ahead. They had been well warned about trouble ahead. But the good help which they had received and the warm welcome which they had received made all of the hardships worthwhile. This somewhat gives a picture of what living the Christian life is like. There is plenty of work to be done in living the Christian life. Serving the Lord is a time consuming event and the Christian must be willing to give up much of the time that he would like to spend doing things that are designed to bring him earthly pleasure or wealth. He must be willing to use his time for the honor and glory of God. Serving the Lord is work. It is not all fun and games. Some of it is difficult hard work. Some of it requires working the feet. It requires going. Some of it requires working the hands and arms. It requires using the muscle and wiping some sweat. Some of it requires using the brain. It takes study and study is work. It may take writing or typing and preparing material that can be used to teach classes. Some of it requires using the voice. It involves witnessing. It involves teaching and training. It involves encouraging those who are discouraged. It involves giving the truth to those who are willing to accept the truth. It requires a willingness to suffer for the Lord. One may suffer reproach and criticism because he serves Jesus. One may suffer physically because he serves Jesus. One may suffer emotionally because he serves Jesus. But the Bible says that all who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Living the Christian life reminds me somewhat of the time when Sis. Davis and I used to pick blackberries at Pleasant Hill. Picking berries is work. You have to reach far across some vines to get the berry that you want to pick. You have to get into some strained positions and after thirty minutes or an hour you were tired and glad to be through. You knew from the start that you were going to get stuck. Those berry vines had very sharp thorns and I do not remember ever picking berries that I did not get stuck. And it hurt. It always hurt. But after it was all over with I always had a great feeling of satisfaction. I always felt that it was well worth the pain in order to get the berries. So it is with serving Jesus. Serving Jesus is work and sometimes it brings pain and suffering. But it is worth all the effort. It is worth all the sacrifice. It is worth all the time spent doing it. It is worth the pain and suffering. I have never done anything for Jesus but what afterward I would have the feeling that it is worth it all. When we get to heaven and when Jesus hands out His rewards for service rendered we will know beyond any doubt that it was worth it all. Conclusion: Let me ask each one of you: Are you a Christian? Have you ever repented of your sins and trusted Jesus to save your soul? If not then I am calling upon you to do so during our invitation hymn. You will be happy that you did. If you are saved let me ask you this: Are you a member of a New Testament church? Church membership and regular church attendance can do a lot for you spiritually. Get in church. Be regular in your attendance. The Lord will be pleased and you will be happy that you did. If you are saved let me also ask you this: Are you faithfully serving the Lord? If not, then start right now and be faithful? You will be glad that you did.