Atos 21

Atos 21

Hughes - In attempting to turn Paul away from Jerusalem, his friends demonstrated that their spiritual focus was more horizontal than vertical. Their love and loyalty were commendable—they wanted to preserve Paul. But their motives, though noble, were shortsighted. These Christians were not seeing God's ultimate purposes. They were looking out for Paul's good but not God's. (Preaching the Word – Acts: The Church Afire) Began begging (3870)(parakaleo from para = side of, alongside, beside + kaleo = call) means literally to call one alongside, to call someone to oneself, to call for, to summon. Parakaleo can include the idea of giving help or aid but the primary sense in the NT is to urge someone to take some action, especially some ethical course of action. Jack Arnold has an interesting note - Paul was given counsel by his friends, but in this case they had not understood the predictions of Agabus correctly. This tells us that counselors can be wrong in giving advice, especially if they do not have all the facts or misinterpret the facts as Paul's friends did. Also, their emotional love for Paul took over their reasoning power so they gave the wrong advice. They were actually subtly trying to keep Paul from doing the will of God. Luke and the other disciples had a pure motive for not wanting Paul to go, but Paul had a higher motive--the revealed will of God that he was to go to Jerusalem and his desire to win men for Christ. Paul, in this case, ignored the advice of other spiritual men because he had the inward conviction of the Holy Spirit that he was to go to Jerusalem. In finding God's directive will, God may use counselors, but ultimately God must bring the understanding of His will to the one who is seeking God's will. Counselors can clarify facts, give illustrations from their own experience or the experiences of others and warn of danger, but ultimately God must lead the person seeking God's will for his life. If, after advice, a person still feels he must do what God is telling him to do, then we must encourage and not discourage him in whatever he feels God would have him to do. It is a very serious matter to play God so as to discourage another Christian from doing the will of God. (Acts 21:1-14 The Will of God) ILLUSTRATION OF LISTENING TO ONE'S FRIENDS TO DISCERN THE WILL OF GOD - At the time of the Reformation in England, one of the converts to Christ was Thomas Bilney, a student at Cambridge. Bilney got hold of a Greek New Testament and read the words, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.” God used this verse to open up his eyes to the fact that salvation is all by God's grace and appropriated through faith in Christ. He became a powerful voice for Christ. Then came the counter-reformation and many reformers were burnt at the stake if they would not recant their biblical beliefs. Bilney was imprisoned and was told to recant or face death by flames. Friends urged him to recant. Just two days before he was to be burned, his friends poured into the prison, overwhelming him with arguments and examples of why he should recant. But Bilney had an inward struggle which agitated his soul, for he felt he had a conviction from the Holy Spirit that he should die. The words of the Bible, “Whosoever will save his life will lose it,” went through his mind over and over again. Finally Bilney broke and rationalized in his mind a compromise. He said, “I will preserve my life in order to dedicate it to the Lord.” He recanted and within a few months Bilney, ridden with guilt, confused in mind, began to give up the Christian Faith altogether. Having denied the Word of God, he could no longer bear to hear it. He wandered from the faith and finally one day, overburdened by grief, he fell as lifeless into the arms of his friends. They knew they had caused his fall and they cried out, “God by a just judgment deliver up to the tempest of their conscience all who deny Christ's truth,” referring to themselves who were instruments in Bilney's rejection of the revealed will of God. This apparent apostasy by Bilney went on for several years but gradually Bilney returned to the Faith. Again he became a strong voice for Christ and again he was arrested and told to recant or be burned at the stake. Bilney, having learned his lesson, refused to give up his beliefs about Christ. The night before he was to be executed by fire, he stretched his hand out towards the lamp that was burning on the table. He placed his finger in the flame and kept it there until his finger had burned off to the joint. He then said to his friends, “I am persuaded, by God's holy Word and the experience of martyrs, that when the flames consume me, I shall not feel them. However, this stubble of a body shall be wasted by it, a pain for the time will be followed by joy unspeakable. The next day he descended into the Lollard's Pit where many Christian martyrs had gone up in flames (picture). He fell on his knees and prayed. Then rising up, warmly embracing the stake, he kissed it. What is the lesson? Bilney's friends almost ruined him. When someone is set on the will of God, don't try to talk him out of it! (Jack Arnold) Acts 21:13 Then Paul answered, "What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus." KJV Acts 21:13 Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. What are you doing 1 Sa 15:14; Isaiah 3:15; Ezek 18:2; Jonah 1:6 weeping and breaking my heart Acts 20:37; 1 Sa 1:8; Phil 2:26; 2 Ti 1:4 For I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem Acts 20:24; Ro 8:35-37; 1 Cor 15:31; 2 Cor 4:10-17; 11:23-27; Phil 1:20,21; Phil 2:17; Col 1:24; 2 Ti 2:4-6; 4:6; 2 Peter 1:14; Rev 3:10; 12:11 Acts 21 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries BREAKING PAUL'S HEART Then Paul answered, "What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? - What are doing was a strong protest (like that in Mk 11:5). Luke had only said they were begging Paul (Acts 21:12), but now we see they did so with tears, expressive of their deep love and concern for their beloved Paul. Weeping is in the present tense indicating it was continuous. Weeping (2799)(klaio) means to mourn, to weep, to lament or to wail with emphasis upon noise accompanying weeping. This description gives us quite a vivid picture of what must have been transpiring as they attempted to talk Paul out of going. Breaking (4919)(sunthrupto from sun = with, together or intensifier + throupto = to break in pieces, crumble, crush) means literally to crush together into pieces and as used figuratively here means to crush Paul's spirit, break his heart, dishearten him. The upshot is to cause him great sorrow and grief. Louw-Nida says "In some languages one may even have 'to cause one's heart to cry.'"