Bound and Determined Sermon SHORT
“Bound & Determined”
Acts 21:1-16
July 6, 2008
Two questions as we begin: how do you know you are really trusting God? What do you do when the will of God involves doing something that will really cost you?
I. A Desperate Plea - :1-6
This represents the beginning of the final leg of Paul’s journey to Jerusalem; next week, we’ll find him there in the city. Paul had had no previous contact with this group of believers in Tyre, and from the wording here, there was a search that Paul initiated in order to seek out this group. It’s likely that this group of believers came into being as Christians were scattered from Jerusalem when Stephen, the deacon, was martyred, and a widespread persecution broke out (Acts 11:19).
The Scripture records that the one significant interchange between Paul and the believers in Tyre involved them begging him, through the Holy Spirit, not to go to Jerusalem. How could the disciples in Tyre be telling Paul one thing “through the Spirit” when Paul says he was “compelled by the Spirit” to do the opposite (20:22)? I think that the answer is to be found in the fact that the Holy Spirit made clear to many people, including some of the believers of Tyre, that trouble awaited Paul in Jerusalem. Armed with this knowledge, the natural thing is for the people of Tyre to urge Paul not to go to Jerusalem.
II. A Dramatic Display - :7-11
Paul believed that the Spirit of God was compelling him to go to Jerusalem, despite the hardship he knew awaited him, but practically, he was to deliver the offering collected from the Gentile churches for the relief of the poor Christians in the mother church at Jerusalem, Jewish believers impoverished as a result of persecution directed at them for their faith. Paul felt a keen need to be the one to present the offering; he’d established those Gentile churches, argued for their validity and full acceptance, while at the same time being a Jew himself. He desperately wanted that gift to be a tangible symbol of unity between Gentile and Jewish Christians, flowing from the side of the Gentiles who’d been mistreated, frankly, by Jews for centuries.
Agabus uses a familiar form of prophecy; OT prophets would sometimes act out a prediction to drive home the point of it. Agabus took Paul’s linen belt from him, bound his own feet and then hands, and pronounced that this is what would happen to the owner of this belt when he ventured to Jerusalem. Figuratively, Paul was bound by that belt…bound and determined!
III. A Determined Apostle – :12-14
There are plenty of temptations to give in, to not follow through on the course God has set for us, aren’t there? And some of them come with the best of intentions. Paul was being tempted here, no doubt about it. His weeping friends were having an emotional effect on him; their tears and words of concern were crushing him, breaking his heart, he says.
So is Paul being obstinate, ignoring the counsel of his friends foolishly, or is he being focused, determined to obey the Spirit of God regardless of the consequences? Do we blame Paul or admire him? Did he get what he had coming to him, when he got to Jerusalem—because what was predicted did come true, as we’ll see—or did he suffer in well-doing, something that we’ve said can often be the lot of those who truly follow Christ?
How do we know when to listen to wise counsel, and when to forge on despite what others may think? This is a fair question, isn’t it? Does God use wise counsel from others to direct us? Sure! Do our friends always tell us what God would have us do? Surely not! Sometimes friends can be the signpost to the way God has for us, and sometimes they can be the stumblingblock that keeps us from His best for our lives. There is no hard and fast, folks; I hate to disappoint you. Some
Signposts to Wise Decision-Making
• None of us has perfect knowledge.
• The Bible will never steer you wrong.
II Timothy 3:16,17 tells us that the Scripture comes from God’s very breath, and it is profitable to train us in how to live.
• Pray for the Spirit’s wisdom.
James 1:5 tells us to ask God for the wisdom He is so ready to supply. Are you doing that as you face decisions?
• Listen to wise counsel.
“Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed” (Proverbs 15:22) Trusted friends and advisors can be of great help to us in our decision-making. Always listen to wise counsel—but that doesn’t mean we uncritically take any person’s counsel as our direction. The counsel of others, as important as it can be, isn’t the be all/end all.
• Common sense?
o Don’t ignore it.
o Don’t sanctify it.
Common sense isn’t necessarily a good guide to use in doing God’s will. Irrationality is no virtue; we should use the faculties God has given us, but that said, sometimes obeying God will not look like the reasonable, rational thing to do.
There is no hard-and-fast, final answer to this question we’ve raised—how do we know when to listen to wise counsel, and when to forge on regardless of advice from well-meaning others. But we remember:
• Ultimately, we answer to God.
And let me quickly add: we answer to a gracious God. When you have time, read Romans 14, where Paul suggests that we shouldn’t spend so much time judging others, the decisions that they make, but rather understand that they answer to God.
We hear an echo of Jesus when we hear the people say, in verse 14 along with Paul, “let the will of God be done”.
IV. A Deliberate Journey - :15-16
And so, with determination to be radically obedient to the Spirit of God in the face of friends’ concerns to the contrary, the apostle sets off on the journey by land that will land him in Jerusalem in just a few short days.
We began this morning with a couple questions.
1. How do you know you are really trusting God? When you move forward in His will, even though others seek to dissuade you. When you move forward, knowing it will likely cost you something significant. When you move forward, entrusting yourself to Him because you don’t know the outcome. Faith manifests its reality in obedience.
2. What do you do when the will of God involves doing something that will really cost you? We see the answer in the life of the apostle. Paul was a man bound and determined to follow Christ at all costs, and we understand that when he says, “I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” Are you bound and determined to do the will of God in your life, come what may?
5 Good Questions
1. What do you think of when you hear someone talk about their faith in God? What evidences make you believe—or doubt—the reality of their profession?
2. What role does the Bible play in your decision-making?
3. Share a time when the counsel of others made a significant difference (for the better) in your life.
4. Are there decisions you’ve made in life that didn’t seem to follow “common sense”? Would you agree that, in every Christ-follower’s life, there are times when we have to ignore “common sense” in order to be faithful to God? Can you think of some of those times?
5. Read Romans 14:1-12. How does remembering that we answer to God—and only secondarily, to others—make a difference in approaching a decision in your life?
Looking Ahead
Read Acts 21:17-36. The predicted persecution of Paul begins to take place. What do you think was going through Paul’s mind while all of this was happening?
4 Responses to “Bound and Determined Sermon SHORT”
Readers (including myself) often miss the fact that the Spirit never told Paul through Agabus what to do about the prediction. Agabus predicted that a certain number of events would befall Paul if/when he traveled to Jerusalem. The local believers reacted, and begged Paul not to go. But Agabus never told Paul not to go. Agabus only said that certain events would occur.
It’s an interesting testimony to Paul’s apostolic authority that he claimed to know precisely what the Holy Spirit wanted him to do about Jerusalem. Christians commonly claim to know these sorts of things, but I believe that nine times out of ten they’re just plain wrong (having been taught Pentecostal errors about divine guidance), and in the tenth case it works out well merely by probability and coincidence. Paul brushed aside even the implicit warning contained in Agabus’ prophecy, because Paul was an apostle and as such was superior to all prophets. Cross ref to how Paul demands all true Christian prophets must and will bow to his authority, in the last few verses of 1 corinthians 14.
By Jack Brooks on Jul 7, 2008
By the way, Byron, this is why I did not keep the audio tape cassette that was made for us at the retreat. I don’t need it. Some of what was said to me was encouraging, and I appreciated it. But I don’t need to keep an audio transcript of it, because it was not the Word of God, and so I will not give those fallible human words any continuing role in directing my thoughts, choices, and expectations — just as the exhortations of the local prophets in Corinth were not written down. Notice we have no record at all of any ‘prophecies’ by NT prophets.
The future will bear its own witness of the origin of the brothers’ exhortations and predictions. We shall see if my little writing implement transforms into a bigger one, correct? Maybe my “voice” for ministry got a little bit bigger 2x at the mic during the 2008 EFCA national conference.
By Jack Brooks on Jul 7, 2008
That’s right, Jack; as I presented it, it seems clear to me that the Spirit made it clear to a number of people that Paul would face hardship in Jerusalem, but never did He contradict Himself; these people, well-meaning all, took it upon themselves to urge him not to go. It’s hard to fault them; their hearts were in the right place, and they were doing what we’d likely do (”hey, Paul, you know, somebody else could take that gift to Jerusalem, and not arouse the anger/persecution. Why don’t you go preach in Asia some more?”).
By fanuv24 on Jul 8, 2008
And then once Paul the apostle spoke, the matter was settled, because he was one of Christ’s personal representatives. Agabus was given a power to foresee a future event, but said nothing about what should or shouldn’t be done. Apostleship trumped prophethood.
Apostles ended. Paul called himself the last one, untimely born. Interesting that the other prophetic ministries to the flock — exhorting/encouraging and teaching (1 Cor. 14:1-2) — have their own gifts. We don’t need prophets today.
By Jack Brooks on Jul 8, 2008