GETTING THE MESSAGE/Expect difficulties in following Christ

After a summer of different subjects in Scripture, we return to our study in Acts this week. In Acts 21, Paul is on his third missionary trip, and he has been convicted by the Holy Spirit to go to Jerusalem. While meeting with the elders from the church in Ephesus at Miletus, he told them he was going to Jerusalem and that the Holy Spirit had conveyed to him that affliction awaited him (Acts 20:23).

We see that same theme in the passage we are looking at. When Paul and his team arrived at the city of Tyre in Phoenicia, they found the church there and spent 7 days with them. The Christians there, under conviction by the Spirit, tried to persuade Paul not to go to Jerusalem. They were certain he would face severe afflictions there.

But the apostle Paul is resolved to go to Jerusalem, so he travels on to Caesarea, where he and those with him go to the house of Philip, one of the original 7 deacons. The prophet Agabus came down from Judea and acted out a prophecy by taking Paul’s belt and binding himself, saying that the Lord says Paul will be bound that way by the Jews.

All of the believers in the house, including the ones with prophetic gifts, try to persuade Paul not to go to Jerusalem (Acts 21:12). So you have the Holy Spirit constraining Paul to go to Jerusalem and the Holy Spirit conveying clearly to Paul and others that he is going to suffer terribly. We are meant to see that Paul is making a sacrificial trip to Jerusalem in obedience to God, knowing he will suffer.

He is like Jesus in that he is heading to suffer at the hands of the Jews, and the weightiness of it grows as he gets nearer.  We should take note that Paul had once been a great sinner opposed to Christ, but now he is willing to suffer for the name of Christ. Such is the converting grace of the Lord.

Paul has walked into much affliction before. So we are also to see the uniqueness of Paul’s mission to Jerusalem. The gospel has already been proclaimed in Jerusalem, so there is judgment underlying Paul’s visit. The hearts of the Jews will be hardened when they hear Paul.

Paul’s suffering at the hands of the Jews in Jerusalem because of his testimony of Christ will be during the time of Pentecost, when Jews from all over the Roman Empire attended. Their united attack upon Paul is a resolved, angry rejection of the Lord Jesus. But the Lord will give Paul resolve and he will go on to testify in front of Gentile rulers, even Rome, signifying the gospel going to the nations.

We can learn several important lessons on Christian resolution here. First, there is submission to God’s will. Paul counted faithfulness to the Lord’s revealed will as more important than his own comfort, even his own life: “I am ready not only to be imprisoned but to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord (verse 13). The Lord Jesus calls all his people to deny themselves and follow him. He tells us anyone who loses his life for Christ’s sake will find life. 

We should renew our resolution to follow Christ again and again. It’s a blessed command to follow him. He is Almighty God. He has the highest throne, the richest crown, and dominion over all things.  We can trust Christ as King. He also suffered and died to cleanse us from sin and give us eternal life. We have every incentive to lose our lives for his sake.

Second, we should expect difficulties in following Christ. We shouldn’t be surprised at opposition to the Lord’s word from the world. Nor should a Christian be surprised at any affliction. God’s school of affliction teaches us to make the Lord and his promise of life our chief end in life. Jim Elliot, a missionary who was killed while taking the gospel to the jungles of Ecuador, once wrote: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain that which he cannot lose.”

Last, Paul’s motive was to honor Christ. He was willing to suffer “for the name of the Lord Jesus” (verse 13). If Paul had only looked at the discouragements, he would have been shaken. But he looked at his encouragements: the love of Christ, the great name of Christ, and the opportunity to honor Christ. 

John the Baptist said, “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life.” What price can one put on everlasting life? Not just eternal existence, but peace and joy with the living God. So if we know Christ, let us be resolved to honor Christ.

The Rev. Chris Shelton is pastor of Union’s First Presbyterian Church.