ACTS 21:26-40 SPIRIT FILLED RELATIONSHIP PRIORITIES2020 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Acts 21:26-40 Spirit Filled Relationship Priorities

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2020. Well, as we get into Acts chapter 21 this evening, this portion of the book of Acts, we're wrapping up the third missionary journey of the Apostle Paul.

And he's, you know, gone through all of the region of Asia Minor, gone through Greece and Macedonia and all of those areas. And he's come back and now once again is in Jerusalem and is there for the feast. He's there to kind of spend some time with the disciples and apostles there in Jerusalem. He's been on this last missionary journey for about four years now.

And Acts chapters 19, 20, and 21 covers that whole journey. But now he's in Jerusalem, and as he is, he has some really strong encounters with the Jewish people. And so as we look at this passage tonight, I've titled the message, Spirit-Filled Relationship Priorities. And it's not really the first thing that popped in my head as I was reading through this, but as I was meditating on this passage and preparing to share with you some things tonight, I

The Lord really highlighted some things, and I think the Apostle Paul here serves as a really important example for us to consider on our relationships. Now, we're going to be looking at Paul's relationships with the Jews and with the people around him and the people who are beating him and trying to kill him. And maybe that's not the kind of relationships that you have, hopefully.

that you're experiencing right now. But at the same time, there's some really good parallels there with the relationships that we have around us and how we need to be led by and filled with the Holy Spirit so that we can handle those relationships and navigate those relationships in a way that honors the Lord. And so spirit-filled relationship,

priorities. What are the priorities that we need to have in our relationships that the Holy Spirit would lead us into? And so we'll look at four priorities, four things to consider, four things to allow the Lord to minister to our hearts about in regards to our relationships. And the first one is found in verse 26. Here's the first priority. Be willing to sacrifice for peace. Tonight I want to encourage you to be willing to

to change your heart, to change your attitude, that you would be to sacrifice in order to make peace. Check out verse 26 again. It says, Then Paul took the men, and the next day, having been purified with them, entered the temple to announce the expiration of the days of purification, at which time an offering should be made for each one of them.

Now, this verse all by itself doesn't have a whole lot of impact, but it's the tail end of, of course, the verses that came before, where the Apostle Paul, as he's in Jerusalem, has received counsel and advice from the leaders in Jerusalem to take a vow of purification. And this vow of purification, it's explained in the verses, verse 20 through 25. Essentially, the idea is this. Paul says,

Here is all of these Jews who have believed in Jesus. And since you've been gone over the past four years and even beyond that, you know, all of these Jews have come to know the Lord, but they've heard rumors about you. And the rumor is that you're teaching people to turn away from Judaism, that you're kind of disrespecting the laws of Moses and the customs of Moses. And we know it's not true, Paul, but that's the rumor that everybody has heard.

And so we have this idea. Why don't you join with these other four guys and participate in this vow of purification?

There's these four guys who want to make a vow, and we're talking about very Jewish practices here. Now, they were believers. They believed in Jesus, but they wanted to make a vow, and this vow would involve some, you know, secluded time, some time away, some time devoted to the Lord. It would involve some sacrifices. It would involve a cutting of the hair and all of these things. Again, it was very religious and Jewish, but religious.

These four guys who wanted to make this vow, they said, why don't you join with them and cover their expenses? Make sure that, you know, everything is paid for. And in doing so, as you participate with them,

Well, then that will put at ease those who are thinking that you are disrespecting our Jewish heritage. And so everybody will be, you know, calmed down. There won't be any incidents because they'll realize you do have respect for our Jewish customs. And you're not, you know, calling Jews away from the practices of Judaism. Their reasoning was if you identify with the Jews, then they will know that you're not against them.

If you look back a couple of verses in verse 21, it says, they have been informed about you that you teach the Jews to forsake Moses. So these believers in Jesus were under the impression that Paul was saying, everybody forsake your Jewish heritage, those of you who are Jewish. It was one thing for a Gentile to not enter into the customs of Moses, right? That was established in Acts chapter 15. But the rumor about Paul was that

Even the Jews, Paul is saying, forsake Moses, forsake all of those traditions and forsake all of those things. Now, the reality is the people that have this impression, it says they've been informed, but really they've been misinformed. We talked about misinformation a little bit on Sunday, right? There is this spread of a rumor that's going on and they're misinformed.

And the leaders in Jerusalem know that they're misinformed, right? They know Paul's stance. They're not confused about where he is, but the people have this impression. And so they say in verse 24, why don't you take these guys, be purified with them, pay their expenses so that everybody will know the information that they received was not correct. Now, the apostle Paul goes along with this suggestion, right?

And as you, you know, read through different accounts or listen to different Bible teachers, there's much discussion about whether or not Paul should have done this. There's lots of opinions and ideas about that.

One thing that's really important to understand and make sure that is clear in your head is this is not a regression on the issue of salvation. Paul isn't like waffling on whether or not Gentiles have to become Jews to be saved or anything like that. It's not an issue about, you know, sacrifice for sin or anything like that. It's a vow of purification that was

a voluntary thing that people could do if they wanted to, but it was not a requirement for salvation or it wasn't a way to be cleansed from sin or anything like that. It was a time like maybe you would just dedicate a time of fasting today, that kind of thing, or you would dedicate a retreat time and you would go and get away and spend time with the Lord. It was similar to that.

These vows, these purification rites, they're not required, but it was optional for a Jew if a Jew wanted to do it. There was the freedom in Christ to do that. And what's interesting is we see the Apostle Paul do this earlier. In Acts chapter 18, verse 18, it mentions a vow that he took on his previous missionary trip. That's missionary trip number two. And he was headed back to Jerusalem for the feast. He had cut his hair off at Centuria because he had taken a vow.

And he was going back to Jerusalem to finish up his vow and fulfill that vow of purification. And so that was several years earlier at the end of his second missionary journey. And now at the end of his third missionary journey, the apostles say, hey, why don't you do that again? Take a vow, spend some time with these guys, and settle the hearts and the minds of the people who have been misinformed about you.

The fact that Paul would participate in this vow is not surprising. It's not offensive. But what I found interesting about this vow, what I found significant, is not so much the reason or that he would, but the cost. The reason is clear. People have heard that information. Now, if people had been misinformed about me personally, I might say, listen, I'm not going to go jump through hoops.

And do all of these things and go out of my way to take care of this because some people believed rumors about me without trying to find out the truth. Like, that's ridiculous for me to, you know, do all of this and navigate all that and, you know, bend and go that way. And, you know, it's so much trouble to... They could just ask me, you know, why don't we just have a conversation? Why do they have to, you know, believe the rumor, believe the falsehood that's being spread about me? And so...

I could see myself saying, I'm not going to do that. But Paul says, okay, I'll go along with that. In verse 22, the leaders advising Paul said, the assembly must certainly meet. And I find it a little bit interesting. Even though he's addressing, he's talking to the leaders of the church in Jerusalem, James the apostle, right? The brother of Jesus, he's talking to those guys.

And they're saying, look, it's out of our hands. The people have heard the assembly is going to meet. Like, even though they're in charge, they're not in charge, right? There's this assembly that's going to meet, whether the leaders of the church like it or not. They're going to hear about Paul's, you know, entrance into Jerusalem. And so they're going to have to come together and have a discussion. People are going to be upset and they're going to be troubled. And so it's no surprise that Paul would go along with this to attempt to build some bridges, right?

It's not a surprise that he would go along with that to attempt to bring peace between him and his fellow believers who come from a Jewish background. Commentator F.B. Meyer says that Paul was always willing to yield in cases which did not concern principle. He acquiesced in such matters for the sake of charity so that he gladly became as a Jew to Jews that he might save the Jews.

This was something that Paul did regularly. He would go out of his way and jump through hoops in order to try to identify with the people that he was seeking to minister to, that there would be peace, that he would have the opportunity to minister to them. And so that's the reason. It's not that surprising. But again, what I found a little bit surprising was the cost. I hadn't really considered the cost too greatly before.

But think about the cost for the Apostle Paul. First of all, this was a vow of purification that would last seven days. And so for seven days, they would be performing this ritual, going through this time of seclusion. And so Paul says, you know what? Hey, I'm a busy guy. I've got letters to write. You know, I've got ministry to do. But I will stop everything and take seven days to spend with the Lord, to spend with these guys,

in order to try to bring peace between me and these who have heard falsely about me. But not only was it the time, but they said, why don't you cover their expenses, Paul? What does it cost to do a vow of purification? Well, I don't have a precise number to share with you, but the expense would involve the haircut. What's that? $3? I don't know. I don't get haircuts very often. I'm not sure. $4? $4?

$25, right? Okay, so he's paying for all the haircuts for him and these other four guys. But not only that, this vow of purification would involve three or four sacrifices per participant.

So all of these guys, they would have these animal sacrifices. And so there's a great variety of ideas because this vow of purification is more tradition than, you know, straight from the scripture. And so we don't know exactly. We can't tell exactly. But the range was from either probably about four animals altogether to maybe up to 16 animals altogether for this vow of purification for Paul and these guys to participate.

Now, just to think about that for a minute, I inquired a little bit. If you were to go and buy a goat today, you would spend between probably $1 and $300. So think about $1 and $300 and a minimum of four goats. So you're talking about $400 to $1,200. But if it was more, if it was $1,500, well, you're talking about a significant amount of money, maybe $2,000 or $3,000. Right?

Now, obviously, I'm just throwing out numbers and the price of sacrifices, you know, maybe we're different, maybe higher, maybe lower. I'm not trying to be precise. I'm just trying to help us to think about that in order to try to make peace, in order to try to bridge this gap and build a relationship, even though the people were wrong, they'd been misinformed. It wasn't like Paul had done something wrong.

Paul was willing to say, you know what, I'm going to take seven days and spend it with the Lord, spend it with these guys. I'm going to spend, you know, $2,000 and cover the expenses so that we have the opportunity to have peace. I think it's interesting to consider. Again, Holy Spirit or Spirit-filled relationship priorities. Priority number one is be willing to sacrifice for peace.

The Lord holds peace in high regard. And he says, look, it's worth going to great lengths.

Why do I have to jump through hoops because you're too lazy to, you know, check your facts or, uh, you know, uh, try to build that relationship or, or, or find out for yourself and you just believe some false thing. Why would I have to do that? And, and yet here we see Paul setting a good example for us to consider. Now, that doesn't mean we always do, you know, every extent of everything that's, you know, possible or, or every idea that might come up of, uh,

an attempt to make peace. Obviously, we have to be led by the Lord. And we can look at this and understand Paul was led by the Holy Spirit. That he in this position, as he was advised by the religious leaders or the church leaders in Jerusalem, he said, you know, yeah, that resonates with me. I think the Lord wants me to do that. And so he was willing, even if it cost me some time, even if it cost me significantly, I'm going to do my best to make peace with this group of people.

Make peace when possible. And that may involve limiting our own rights. It may involve going out of our way or bending over backwards or sacrificing significantly. You know, sometimes we hold our ground. It's the principle of the thing. And there's times to do that for sure. At the same time, there's times to sacrifice for peace.

And maybe that's a better approach, an approach that the Lord might be ministering to you about for you to consider. And so be filled with the Holy Spirit and allow him to lead you in those relationships that you're working through and navigating through. Moving on, though, we're going to continue on into verses 27 through 36. Here's the second priority. Be willing to be misunderstood and falsely accused.

We'll just skip over that point and move on to point number three, right? No. Be willing to be misunderstood and falsely accused. Now, these next few verses, a lot's going to go down as Paul is in the temple and he gets attacked severely. Check out verse 27. It says, crying out,

This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against the people, the law, and this place. And furthermore, he also brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place. For they had previously seen Trophimus, the Ephesian, with him in the city, whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple. Now the situation here is Paul is about to finish this seven days of purification and

The vow is almost over. He's there on the temple grounds. And some Jews from Asia, that's Asia Minor, where he's spent a lot of time in Ephesus, in Galatia, and all that region, right? So there's Jews from there that are now in Jerusalem in the temple area. And they see Paul. They recognize him. And these are some of the Jews who caused trouble back in those other regions where Paul was ministering.

Now it tells us that previously they had seen another Greek, an Ephesian, Trophimus, with Paul. And so when they saw Paul in the temple grounds, they assumed, they supposed, Paul brought Trophimus in there as well. And so they now throw a fit, and they basically, you know, sound the alarm, red alert, red alert, that Paul has brought Gentiles into the temple area. The temple courtyard, well, there was several courtyards surrounding the temple.

And the courtyards were separated so that only certain people could go through, you know, certain points. And so you had the court of the Gentiles, which was the outside. And that was where, you know, Gentiles could come.

But beyond that, you had the court of the women. And it wasn't named that because only women could go there. It was because, well, the women could go past the court of the Gentiles into the court of the women. But then there was an inner court beyond that where only the Jewish males could go. And so there was these, you know, boundaries, these separations. And so here, Paul is beyond the Gentiles. And he is...

seen by these guys who now think that Paul has brought Gentiles beyond the courtyard of the Gentiles. On the wall of that courtyard, they had a sign written in Greek so that everybody would know, no foreigner may enter within the barricade which surrounds the sanctuary and enclosure. Anyone who is caught doing so has himself to blame for his ensuing death.

There was a sign on the wall, look, if you pass this point and you're a Gentile, you only have yourself to blame, you will be put to death. And so they thought Paul had violated this. And even the Romans who took away the capital punishment rights of the Jewish people, even the Romans allowed them to honor this. Even if it was a Roman citizen who...

past this boundary, Rome would say, that's okay. Yes, go ahead and execute. We know this is holy and sacred to you. And so they would approve of that. And so this was something the Jews took seriously. This was a big deal for them. And so they thought Paul had brought these Gentiles in. And so they're going to execute him right there. It says in verse 28 that they cry out. This is the guy who's teaching the

everywhere against this temple and against this place. All of this is lies. It's not the truth, but that's what they're shouting. That's their false accusation against the apostle Paul. In verse 30, and all the city was disturbed and the people ran together, seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple. And immediately the doors were shut. Now, as they were seeking to kill him, news came to the commander of the garrison that all Jerusalem was in an uproar.

So this stirs a huge commotion. It's not just a few people around Paul. You know, it's not like that. But there's this massive uproar that says the whole city is disturbed. And they grab Paul. They drag him forcibly. This is very violent. They drag him out of the courtyard, right, out of the temple grounds, and they shut the doors so that nobody else can go in and make sure no Greeks go in. And, you know, we're sealing that off.

And it says in verse 31 that they were seeking to kill him. So they thought he violated this law. And so they were going to put him to death right there on the spot. But the commander of the garrison hears about the uproar. Now, right there on the temple grounds, right next to the temple grounds, was the fortress of Antonia. And so there would be stationed there a thousand Roman soldiers.

Here, the commander of this garrison hears about it, and now he begins to intervene, and he's going to save Paul's life in verse 32. He immediately took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them. And when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. When the commander came near and took him and commanded him to be bound with two chains, and he asked who he was and what he had done.

And so they're beating Paul. Again, they're not being gentle. They're not just like trying to teach him a lesson and rough him up and send him home, right? They're beating Paul with the intention of execution. They are trying to kill him. And so the commander rushes in and literally saves Paul's life. His soldiers, you know, rush in, they intervene, they separate the crowd, they grab hold and take custody of Paul and separate him. And

They bind Paul in chains. And if you've been reading along with us, you might remember as Paul was headed towards Jerusalem, the Holy Spirit prophesied through several prophets that he would be bound in chains when he went to Jerusalem. And so now this prophecy is being fulfilled. And the commander begins to inquire of what the situation was. In verse 34, some among the multitude cried one thing and some another.

So when he could not ascertain the truth because of the tumult, he commanded him to be taken into the barracks. When he reached the stairs, he had to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob. For the multitude of the people followed after, crying out, away with him. You can see the situation is serious. They had to forcibly rip Paul out of the crowd.

The Roman soldiers had to use their might and show their force and rescue Paul from this crowd because of the violence of the mob, it says. And even as they're pulling him away, the crowd is pushing after just as quickly as they're pulling away. And they're saying, away with him. And their intention is for him to be executed. And so you can see that, well, the reaction was really poor. Paul's reception here in Jerusalem was,

was not so great. He was misunderstood. He was falsely accused. He was hated severely as demonstrated by this violence on the Temple Mount.

Now, looking at all of this situation and all that's transpired, going back a few moments ago, was the vow a good plan or not? This is part of the discussion that you could have about this. If Paul hadn't made that vow, he wouldn't have been on the temple grounds right then. This whole situation wouldn't have come about, perhaps. We can only speculate. Many Bible scholars differ, and you can look at each one and see the arguments, right?

Even if it was a good idea, it didn't work. The problem they anticipated was accurate, but it didn't resolve the situation. It didn't, you know, prevent this kind of uproar. Now, this wasn't, you know, the church people. This wasn't believers in Jesus responding to Paul. This was the Jewish people as a whole that they're on the Temple Mount. But still, it raises questions that we really can't answer. And I think that's okay.

And I think it's important for us to consider. And I've shared these kinds of things often and even frequently, but I guess often and frequently are the same thing. Recently is the thing I was trying to say. But I'll just take a moment to remind you again, results don't tell the whole story. We cannot look at the results and say, okay, look, Paul shouldn't have done this because look what happened. That doesn't necessarily tell us the whole story. Sometimes you have to do the right thing, even if you don't expect it to work out.

Sometimes you need to do what's right, even if there's going to be a violent reaction to it. You have to be led by the Holy Spirit and allow the Lord to lead you and be willing to suffer being misunderstood and falsely accused if that's how it's going to go. That we have to be willing to be led by the Holy Spirit, filled with the Holy Spirit, and it's no promise that then the results are going to be...

and perfect and no problems and no concerns or issues. Listen, a lot of times God works through the journey even when the destination is different than we thought. And so we can't just look at the results of this and say, yeah, Paul, you should have never been there. Maybe, but that's between the Lord and Paul, really, right? The results don't tell the whole story. We can't look at the results in Paul's life or even in our own lives. What we need to look at is

what's the Lord saying? And how is the Lord leading? How is the Lord guiding? In many ways, we could look at this and say, Paul, good job. You did your best to try to bring peace. It didn't work, but you did your part. And perhaps Paul in doing this was fulfilling his own words to the Romans in Romans chapter 12, verse 18, where he says, if it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. If it's possible, do your best to

to live peaceably. But notice there's the question of, you know, sometimes it may not be possible. But that doesn't mean you give up and you throw in the towel or you, you know, choose to not even pursue peace. No, as much as depends on you, live peaceably, Paul says. There's a big piece that doesn't depend on you.

Because even if I'm doing exactly what God wants me to do, and I'm filled with the Holy Spirit, and I'm right in the center of God's will, that doesn't require then that God override your will and make you do what he wants you to do, right? Like, you still get to choose how you respond, even if I'm right, and right where God wants me, and led by the Holy Spirit. And so there's still the opportunity for...

Misunderstanding. Even when we're on God's mission, doing God's work, exactly what he said, when he said it, you know, exactly perfectly what he wanted, doesn't mean exactly perfect results. Results don't tell the whole story. And we get sidetracked by that sometimes.

Sometimes we get distracted by the results before they happen, right? We're thinking, look, I already had this conversation. I know I need to have this conversation, but I've already had this conversation a hundred times. I'm not going to have this conversation again because I already have it. I know how it's going to go. So I talk myself out of what the Lord's prompting on my heart, putting on my heart. And I don't do because I'm already anticipating what the results are going to be. But the reality is, regardless of the results...

The right thing is to do what it is the Lord is leading us to do. And we need to be willing to obey the Lord, follow his leading, and be misunderstood if that's what happens. And be falsely accused if that's what happens. Again, us obeying the Lord doesn't override the will of others. Our job is not to worry about the results. Our job is to be faithful to hear from the Lord and follow his leading.

And the results are what they are. And people respond the way they respond. And you can look at this in the sense of, you know, preaching the gospel. You can look at this in the sense of ministry like the Apostle Paul. But I would encourage you to consider you can look at this in your marriage relationship. You can look at this in your families, in your workplace. Our job is to be filled with the Holy Spirit, to be led and prompted by Him. And sometimes that's going to go away that, well, people respond negatively, right?

And they're not happy about what it is that the Lord has put upon our hearts. But the results are not for us to be concerned with, really. Faithfulness to the Lord. And so we have to resolve ahead of time. Lord, I'm going to be obedient. I'm going to do what you put upon my heart. And if I'm misunderstood, if I'm falsely accused, if I'm hated as a result, well, that's what's going to be.

Because I'm going to be faithful to you. We have to resolve ahead of time, I'm not going to become bitter about it. People, you know, violently respond or respond hatefully and spitefully. I'm not going to become bitter about it. As Paul was on his way back to Jerusalem, all along the way as these prophets were coming forth and sharing about some of the tribulation that Paul was going to encounter in Jerusalem, Acts chapter 20, verse 24, Paul says, look, none of these things move me. I don't count my life as dear to myself.

so that I must finish my race with joy and the ministry that I receive from the Lord Jesus Christ to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. Nothing moves me.

You talk about chains. Listen, if me obeying Jesus is going to result in chains, Paul says, I don't care. I'm going to be faithful to what God's called me to. I'm willing to be misunderstood, falsely accused. I'm willing to go on trial. I'm willing to, you know, face violence and persecution. My main objective is to finish the course. And so when it comes to relationships,

Paul was willing to be faithful to the Lord, even if that meant he would be misunderstood and falsely accused. It's a priority, a priority we need to consider for our relationships. Are you willing to be faithful to the Lord, to follow his promptings and allow him to lead in the direction he wants you to go? Well, moving on to verses 37 through 40, we get the third priority to consider this evening, and that is be willing to change how you communicate.

Be willing to change how you communicate. Jumping into verse 37, it says, Then as Paul was about to be led into the barracks, he said to the commander, May I speak to you? He replied, Can you speak Greek? Are you not the Egyptian who some time ago stirred up a rebellion and led the 4,000 assassins out into the wilderness? But Paul said, I am a Jew from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city, and I implore you, permit me to speak to the people.

Paul's a really amazing guy. He's just had a near-death experience, right? Again, they weren't just trying to rough him up, teach him a lesson, and send him off. They were trying to kill him, and the Roman soldiers intervened and rescued him.

And the way he's communicating here, as you read through these verses, it's not like you don't sense any panic, right? Paul is respectful to the Roman commander. He's talking with him, not frantically, but calmly, and reasoning with him. He's giving him some insight about who he is. It seems to be very calm and collected, which is not what you would expect from someone who's just been about beat to death, right?

But here's Paul, and he begins to speak to this Roman commander. And what language does he use? He speaks to him in Greek. It was the common language of the day. No surprise, we know Paul spoke Greek because, well, all of his letters that he wrote, he wrote in Greek, right? Unless you believe that he wrote Hebrews, then there's some Aramaic in there. But we know that he spoke Greek. We're familiar with that. No surprise.

But he speaks to him in Greek, and the commander is surprised because the commander doesn't know who Paul is. He thinks he's this Egyptian guy who had led a rebellion a few years prior. And this rebellion was crushed, but the commander or the Egyptian guy got away. And so he thought, well, this must be that guy. I don't know why he made that jump, but that's who he figured it was. And Paul says, no, no, I'm a Jew from Tarsus.

a citizen of no mean city. Here Paul is letting the commander know, I'm a Roman citizen. I'm not just some random guy. I'm not some, you know, some Jewish guy. I am Jewish, but I'm also a Roman citizen, which, well, gives Paul some rights, some citizenship rights that he is laying claim to, and he'll lay claim to a little bit later as we get into chapter 22 as well. But here he begs the commander, right?

permit me to speak to the people. And the commander lets him. And I find this a little bit fascinating because this guy just went in and rescued Paul who was about to be beat to death. It doesn't seem likely to me that it would be kind of normal and natural for the commander then to say, oh yeah, go ahead and talk to the crowd. Like these are the people who just tried to kill him that they just had to rescue him from, that they had to pull him out of the mob violently because there was so much hatred, you know, that he would just let Paul go.

oh yeah why don't you yeah go ahead here here's a microphone you know go talk to the crowd like it seems not normal for me it seems unnatural as i'm reading through this but here as paul is addressing this commander i would suggest he's addressing to him he's addressing him in a way that they're able to relate this commander begins to trust paul he's speaking to him in a language he understands he's letting him know his background where he's from he's a roman citizen

And he makes a very polite request. I implore you, permit me to speak to the people. And so in that, he's very persuasive. I would suggest that he communicates to the commander specifically, intentionally, in this way to build this bridge, to establish this trust, to have the opportunity then to speak to the crowd. And then in verse 40, it goes on to say, so when he had given him permission to

Paul stood on the stairs and motioned with his hand to the people. And when there was a great silence, he spoke to them in the Hebrew language, saying, and here we get to see the Bible was the first to introduce cliffhangers. Next week on the book of Acts, chapter 22 records the message that Paul shares with this crowd.

But here in verse 40, we see this incredible scene. Again, this angry mob. They're violent. They just tried to kill him. And it says that Paul motions with his hand to the people. He's like, or maybe this is what you're doing. You know, this is what I want you to do. Maybe, I don't know what motion he made, but he motioned to the people. And probably not instantly, but you can imagine, you know, this massive crowd and a hush begins to fall upon the crowd.

It says there was a great silence. The crowd quieted down and then he spoke to them in the Hebrew language. He changes languages. Paul was bilingual. Maybe more. We don't know if he spoke other languages for sure, but he spoke Greek. But now he speaks Hebrew or Aramaic to this crowd. He changes how he communicates as he's now addressing a different group of people.

Now, it's not that the crowd didn't speak Greek. They did speak Greek. That was the common language of the day. But he spoke to them in Hebrew for a purpose, to reach them in a different way than he would be able to reach them if he was speaking in Greek. In my workplace, one of my, it's not in my job description, but one of my responsibilities that just kind of happens is interpretation.

And I don't mean Spanish to English or English to Spanish. But I have to, many times, jump in and interpret

designer speak to business speak or business speak to developer speak. I have to interpret and translate to help people understand because there's oftentimes conversations that are happening and tensions are rising and passions, you know, are getting involved and there's frustrations that are happening and it's many times because

They're speaking a different language, even though they're both speaking English. But they're just misunderstanding each other. They're coming from different perspectives, and they're not able to recognize that. And I'm not a designer, but somehow I kind of fit that middle ground where I can kind of help navigate, help interpret, help translate, and build a bridge and make those connections. It takes some effort, though.

It takes some intention of working with each side and helping them to come together into agreement of one message or one idea, one concept.

And I think the Apostle Paul demonstrates that concept over and over and over again. We talked about it a couple of weeks ago in Acts chapter 17. I guess that was just last Wednesday on Athens, where he ministered to the people on Mars Hill in a way that they could relate. He didn't jump into the Old Testament and try to get them to understand the scriptures that they've never known.

He worked to come alongside them in a way that he could begin to like essentially kind of grab their hand and lead them towards the gospel. And that's not something that happens just by accident. That's not something that happens, you know, just without thinking or without any effort. I mean, if you really begin to think about it, it's amazing many times that we ever communicate at all or get anything done because so many times we have conversations, we walk away

Both with completely different conclusions from the same conversation that you and I just had. It happens so often, right? We so easily miscommunicate. And there is the need for us to do some effort on our part to understand the other side and to approach the conversation and communicate in a way that, well, we're coming along with them. We're not making them, forcing them, hey, you learn my vocabulary so that you can understand what I'm saying. No, no. It's I'll learn your vocabulary. Okay?

So that I can help you, first of all, so I can understand what you're saying. But then that I can help you understand what I'm saying. That I'll do the effort. I'll put in the effort to build the bridge to change how I communicate to help us be able to join together. Paul in 1 Corinthians 9 says, I'm free from all men, but I've made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more. To the Jews, I became a Jew, that I might win the Jews.

To those who are under the law is under the law, that I might win those who are under the law. He goes on to say, those who don't have the law, well, I go and approach them as without the law. Not that I don't have the law, not that I throw out the law, but that I approach them in that way. I approach them from that perspective so that I can win those who are without the law. To the weak I became as the weak, that I might win the weak. I became all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.

All of this, Paul kind of labels under this, I made myself a servant to all. I made myself a servant. I'm here to serve the commander. I'm here to serve this angry mob that's trying to kill me. I'm going to be willing to change how I communicate to serve them in a way that I'm able to bring them a message that is clear and that they're able to understand.

I'm not going to make them, force them to understand what I mean. You know, you guys figure it out. I'm being clear. You know, if you don't understand, that's on you. Paul is making a deliberate effort to reach them in a way that there's no interpretation needed, that there's no translator that, okay, can you come in and, you know, speak this language and fill the in-between? I don't know why, but suddenly in my head, it just popped up that scene in I Love Lucy where there was like four translators, you know, I think they're in...

Europe or something and there was like, you know french to german to you know, whatever and Spanish and then english, right? There was like all this translation, right? Like sometimes that's how our communication is and and we need to be the servants and say, you know, i'll learn your language I'll learn your language So that I can share with you the gospel so that I can share the love of god with you So that I can hear what you're saying and then bring forth the truth from that perspective

Well, finally, in continuing to consider verse 40 here, here's the fourth priority for us to consider this evening. That is, be willing to love haters. Be willing to love haters. And so, spirit-filled relationship priorities. Let me run through them real quick. Number one, be willing to sacrifice for peace.

Number two, be willing to be misunderstood and falsely accused. Number three, be willing to change how you communicate. And then finally, number four, be willing to love haters. Again, verse 40 says, so when he had given him permission, Paul stood on the stairs and motioned with his hand to the people. And when there was a great silence, he spoke to them in the Hebrew language, saying, and the message goes on.

Here's a sneak preview, verse 1 and 2. Brethren and fathers, hear my defense before you now. And when they heard that he spoke to them in the Hebrew language, they kept all the more silent. And then he said, and you can read that tomorrow in the reading, but you can see the silence, the hush, as they hear him speak their language. Now he has their attention. But notice how he addresses them. Brethren and fathers.

Here I would suggest to you, Paul is expressing incredible love to those who just tried to kill him. Because he's about to share with them the gospel. Their greatest need, the biggest issue that they have in their lives, he's addressing here with the gospel message. But he also does this, he brings forth this message in a way that is loving and respectful. Brethren and fathers, hear my defense.

He doesn't say, you dummies, you know, I can't believe you guys are so dumb to believe all of these things and try to kill me. You realize you just tried to kill me right now? Like, he's not going off the handle on them. He's saying, brethren, you guys are my brothers. We're family. Fathers, I respect you. Paul here is communicating love and respect. And these are the people that just not even five minutes ago,

were trying to put him to death. Paul had an incredible amount of love for his Jewish brethren. He describes it a little bit in Romans chapter 9. He says, Listen, I tell you the truth. I'm not lying. My conscience bears witness. I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart, for I wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen, according to the flesh. My fellow Jews, Paul says,

My heart is broken for them. I have great sorrow and continual grief for them. I wish that I could take their place of judgment so that the rest of the Jewish people could be saved. Paul loved his brethren greatly. And the fact that they just tried to kill him didn't change that one bit.

The fact that they just tried to put him to death, it didn't change his love for them. It didn't change his desire for them to be saved. It didn't alter his approach to them, even though they came at him with such violence and such force. I always describe love as doing what is best for someone. That's real love. That's what the Lord did for us. He loved us. He did what was best for us. And here the Apostle Paul says,

is demonstrating real love. The people who hate him, the people who want to kill him, he respects them. He, you know, shares respect. He calls them brethren and he gives them the gospel message that they might have the opportunity for life. Pastor David Guzik says, at this moment, when his life was in danger from an angry mob and he was suspected of being a dangerous criminal, Paul had one thing on his mind. Let me preach the gospel. What's best for this crowd right now?

Paul's like, look, there's maybe never going to be an opportunity like this to bring the gospel to this crowd of Jews that are right here. This is an ideal opportunity. And yes, I'm in pain and I've been beaten and, you know, I almost died and they hate me. But, oh man, if only I could have this opportunity, they could have the chance to be saved. And so he works hard to make a way. He takes risks. He reaches out.

Talks to the commander, gets permission, quiets the crowd, addresses them with love, with respect, and brings forth a message they can hear and understand. Paul was willing to love those who hated him. This is a spirit-filled relationship priority. That no matter what people around us are doing and their attitude and their hearts and their intentions are towards us, our response, our perspective is love.

That we would rise above the fray, that we would rise above the nonsense and the distractions and all the things that happen, that we would rise above those things and keep the eternal perspective in mind that we would recognize that what they need most is the love of God and the move of God upon their hearts. Perhaps the gospel, if they've not received the gospel, or perhaps instruction or correction or just patience and forbearance.

but that we would rise above, that we wouldn't allow their actions to change our actions toward them, but that we would be willing to love those who hate us. Isn't that what Jesus instructed us to do? Matthew chapter 5, verse 44 and 45. I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. He says, when you do that, you'll be like your father in heaven.

This is how the Father behaves. He loves those who are working against him. He blesses them. He works in their life. He offers to them good opportunities. Not that they won't receive judgment. He'll take care of them. But when it comes to us, that's where the comparison stops, right? Our job is not to be the judgment of God. Our job is to be like the Father, to express the love, to offer the blessing, to do good.

regardless of how the people are relating to us or responding to us. And leave the rest in the Lord's hands. Again, can't look at the results. That's really not in all our ballpark. That's out of our league. That's something completely different. Our job is to be filled with the Holy Spirit to such a degree that it prioritizes us

the way that we relate to one another in our relationships. That it sets the priorities. That it changes our attitudes. That it changes our relationships. That we'd be willing to sacrifice for peace. Even when, hey, I don't need to jump through hoops. I'm in the right here, right? I haven't done anything wrong. You jump through hoops. Maybe that's the right, you know, response that the Holy Spirit would lead you in. Probably not. Maybe the Holy Spirit would say, you know what? Yeah, it's going to hurt. It's going to be painful. It's going to cost you. It's

But why don't you just make the sacrifice so that there can be peace? I mean, so what? It costs you a couple thousand dollars. Then you can have peace. And the work of God can continue on and there can be fellowship and harmony between you as believers. Just make the sacrifice. Now again, there's room for the Lord to say, no, no more sacrifice is needed, right? You've done enough. You've fulfilled your part. You need to just move on. There's room for the Holy Spirit to lead that way too.

But that's not the only way the Holy Spirit leads. And let's not allow our temper to be the one who decides, you know, which way the Holy Spirit's leading, right? No, no. Spirit-filled relationship priorities. Let the Holy Spirit dictate when we bend over backwards and sacrifice, following the example here of the Apostle Paul, and be willing to be misunderstood and falsely accused. It's okay.

You're going to do your best to make peace. You're going to do your best to be right where the Lord wants you to be. And you need to settle in your heart. That may be received poorly. And the reaction may be violent and hateful and spiteful. And that's okay. My responsibility, your responsibility is faithfulness to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to be led by the Holy Spirit. People will respond how they want to respond, how they choose to respond. And God gives them the freedom to choose. My obedience doesn't force me.

their or god's will upon them right they still get to choose they still have their part and so i need to be willing and accept that may be the result it's not the result i want it's not the result that you know we would choose but it's okay because i want to be faithful to the lord and led by his holy spirit be willing to change how you communicate it could take some effort it could take some education it could take some training it could take some you know serious concentration and focus and intention and

But maybe you need to work on your relationships, on your communication, hearing, listening, and then bringing forth the message that you have in a way that the other side can hear it and understand it. We always, you know, would just prefer, like, why don't you get what I'm saying? But if I keep saying the same thing and hoping that you just get what I'm saying, you know, I'm really dropping the ball.

Be willing to change how you communicate. Be willing to explore and be a servant. That's how Paul described it, as an act of service. I'm going to serve you by learning how to communicate to you in a way that you can understand and receive it. And then finally, be willing to love haters. Regardless of how people respond, regardless of how they relate to you, our responsibility is to demonstrate the love of God

to show grace, to demonstrate forgiveness. It doesn't mean that there's no standards, that there's no, you know, discipline or anything like that. That's a separate discussion. But at the same time, just like the Father, all of those things are expressed in love and done for the good of the recipient. Even when discipline, when God brings discipline to us, right, it's always done in love for our good, right?

In a similar way, those who hate us, even if we are called to separate from them, you know, and that might be the right thing and the appropriate thing, it's still done in love. It's still done to express God's best towards that person. Let's be filled with the Holy Spirit. These things are challenging things and we cannot handle these kinds of relationship priorities in our own strength. We need to be filled with the Holy Spirit, empowered by the Holy Spirit to love one another the way that God has called us to. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you.

For your word and this great reminder, even though, Lord, it's almost kind of random as we look at the situation that Paul was in, it's far removed from what we experience day to day. And yet there's so many things, Lord, that through this example, Lord, you want to speak to us about our relationships. Help us, God, to see the example and to follow this pattern that you've set for us. I pray, God, for each of us that you would fill us with your Holy Spirit. Lord, it's not a matter of our efforts or works anymore.

to receive or be filled with your Holy Spirit, it's a matter of faith, trusting you, believing you at your word, and asking. And so, Lord, we ask, because we believe you promised you would pour out your Holy Spirit upon us, Lord, would you fill us that we might have the relationships that you want us to have, that we might be empowered to sacrifice, that our attitudes and our hearts might be changed, Lord, that our love would grow and

to become like yours. Help us, God, to relate to one another in a way that honors you and glorifies your name. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.