Into Roman Captivity - When Everything Goes Wrong

1. INTO ROMAN CAPTIVITY Acts 21

2. INTO ROMAN CAPTIVITY Have you ever had a day, or several days, when everything seemed to go wrong? Have you every thought: “What else can go wrong?”

3. INTO ROMAN CAPTIVITY Someone once said, “you are having a bad day when…” You wake up in the hospital all bandaged up and your insurance agent tells you that your accident policy covers falling off the roof, but not hitting the ground You call Suicide Prevention and they put you on hold Your twin sister forgets your birthday

4. INTO ROMAN CAPTIVITY Someone once said, “you are having a bad day when…” Your car horn goes off accidently and gets stuck as you follow a group of Hell’s Angels down the freeway Your boss tells you not to bother to take your coat off

5. INTO ROMAN CAPTIVITY I wonder if this is how Paul may have felt in our text for this lesson, Acts 21

6. INTO ROMAN CAPTIVITY Some background The Jerusalem church leaders had listened to false rumors that Paul was encouraging Jewish Christians not to follow the Old Testament Law If it was understood that following the Law was not tied to salvation, and if the Gentiles were not expected to follow the ceremonial and dietary aspects of the Law, Paul did not care if the Jews continued in the Law or not

7. INTO ROMAN CAPTIVITY Some background What he did care about and what grieved him greatly, was a growing rift he was witnessing between Jewish and Gentile believers He did everything he could not to offend the Jews, and even sought ways to extend an olive branch to them

8. INTO ROMAN CAPTIVITY Some background When he heard of the famine in Jerusalem, he challenged all the churches he had founded to give sacrificially to help the needy believers in Jerusalem and had amassed a large offering to give to the needy in Jerusalem And now, he had come to Jerusalem to give the gift to the Jerusalem church and report on his work among the Gentiles

9. INTO ROMAN CAPTIVITY Some background So Paul went to the elders and recited all that the Lord had accomplished through his ministry to the Gentiles, detailing his experiences one by one Undoubtedly, this was a stirring, inspiring missionary report to anyone having a love for seeing people come to faith in Christ

10. INTO ROMAN CAPTIVITY Some background So what was the reception Paul received? We are told “And when they heard it, they glorified God.” (Acts 21:20)

11. INTO ROMAN CAPTIVITY Some background So what was the reception Paul received? We are told “And when they heard it, they glorified God.” (Acts 21:20) Unfortunately, we then come to the word “And” That one word, “And” spoils it all

12. INTO ROMAN CAPTIVITY Some background No sooner had they gotten the niceties out of the way and then they launched into an attack upon Paul’s ministry and methods They belittled Paul’s ministry by saying about their own converts in Jerusalem, “You see, brother, how many thousands they are among the Jews of those who have believed. They are zealous for the law…”(Acts 21:20)

13. INTO ROMAN CAPTIVITY Some background What a slap in the face! Thousands saved in Asia among the Gentiles? That is nothing. We have had thousands saved right here in this one town! And, they added, unlike your disciples, they are all zealous of the law

14. INTO ROMAN CAPTIVITY Some background Imagine what Paul must have felt like He had done everything he could to mend fences with the Jewish believers He had taken up a great sum of money to give to the needy in Jerusalem He had reported the indisputable working of God in his ministry

15. INTO ROMAN CAPTIVITY Some background But the elders did not even mention the Gentile churches’ sacrificial gift, thus exhibiting not the least bit of gratefulness for their sacrifices, nor Paul’s part in it They belittled Paul’s work and criticized him because of formalities – practices of the Law

16. INTO ROMAN CAPTIVITY Some background But that was not the only thing that went wrong for Paul The leaders produced a scheme for Paul to satisfy the legalists by going through a Jewish ceremony – purification – with four other Jewish converts in the temple – and to pay for all their fees as well

17. INTO ROMAN CAPTIVITY Some background The purpose of this scheme was to show that Paul was a pro-Judaist Christian Though Paul knew this was silly, he was trying to be conciliatory – so he went through with it But through a cascading series of mishaps, we find events like those of a bad week we have had from time to time

18. INTO ROMAN CAPTIVITY Some background When the seven days were almost ended, the Jews from Asia stirred up the people and seized Paul, claiming that Paul was teaching against the people and the Law and this holy place AND they jumped to conclusions - supposed that Paul had brought a Gentile into the temple, because earlier they had seen Paul with this person, concluding that he was one of the four coming out of the temple with Paul – something strictly forbidden

19. INTO ROMAN CAPTIVITY Some background Unfortunately, the worst was still to come! The mob took Paul out of the temple, started beating him to a pulp Hearing of the disturbance, a local Roman captain immediately sends a detachment of soldiers to see what is going on, upon which they stopped beating Paul “Thank goodness!” thinks Paul, maybe my week will improve

20. INTO ROMAN CAPTIVITY Some background Unfortunately not – for instead of arresting the perpetrators of the beating – they arrest the victim – Paul Could it get any worse?

21. INTO ROMAN CAPTIVITY Some background Unfortunately not – for instead of arresting the perpetrators of the beating – they arrest the victim – Paul Could it get any worse? It could and it did, for not only was Paul arrested for a crime he did not commit, but he suddenly discovers that he is a victim of mistaken identity

22. INTO ROMAN CAPTIVITY Some background Three years earlier an Egyptian Jew had led a group of several thousand men in assassination attempts against the Romans The captain presumed Paul was one of those men Could Paul’s week get any worse? What can we learn from Paul’s bad week when everything went wrong?

23. INTO ROMAN CAPTIVITY Lessons 1. Do not let the failure of Christians hinder your spiritual growth Would we have been devastated, disheartened, and disillusioned if those things had happened to us? However, if we look through the rest of Acts, and all of Paul’s letters, we find no hint of resentment or anger or bitterness

24. INTO ROMAN CAPTIVITY Lessons 1. Do not let the failure of Christians hinder your spiritual growth How was Paul able to be unaffected by the failure of other Christians? Perhaps there are two reasons

25. INTO ROMAN CAPTIVITY Lessons 1. Do not let the failure of Christians hinder your spiritual growth A. First, Paul was not preoccupied with people, but with the promotion of the Gospel Later Paul wrote from a prison cell in Rome: “What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.” (Philippians 1:18)

26. INTO ROMAN CAPTIVITY Lessons 1. Do not let the failure of Christians hinder your spiritual growth He did not care if Christians lied about him or told the truth about him – if the Gospel went forth The best weapon against discord is an emphasis on evangelism

27. INTO ROMAN CAPTIVITY Lessons 1. Do not let the failure of Christians hinder your spiritual growth Paul was so absorbed with reaching people with the Gospel that he simply did not have time to be trivialized with the hurt feelings or disappointments with other Christian’s petty, unkind or unchristian like actions

28. INTO ROMAN CAPTIVITY Lessons 1. Do not let the failure of Christians hinder your spiritual growth B. Paul focused not on Christians, but on Christ “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21) Illustration of Camera

29. INTO ROMAN CAPTIVITY Lessons 1. Do not let the failure of Christians hinder your spiritual growth The same is true in our Christian lives If we focus on people and their faults and failures, Jesus will get out of focus in our lives If we focus on Jesus, and really live just to please Him, and let Him be the source of joy in our lives, then people and their faults fade into the background

30. INTO ROMAN CAPTIVITY Lessons 1. Do not let the failure of Christians hinder your spiritual growth

31. INTO ROMAN CAPTIVITY Lessons 2. God has a larger purpose in things that go wrong in our lives If Paul had thought about this bad week, he likely did not know what God was up to Up to this time, Paul’s ministry had been in the Greek provinces But, the center of power was Rome

32. INTO ROMAN CAPTIVITY Lessons 2. God has a larger purpose in things that go wrong in our lives There was a saying, “All roads lead to Rome” which made the reverse true – All roads out of Rome lead to other places What an opportunity if a great soul-winning station could be organized in the Center of the civilized world – Rome – and go out to all places

33. INTO ROMAN CAPTIVITY Lessons 2. God has a larger purpose in things that go wrong in our lives Paul did not know it, but God was working things out for Paul to receive a free, all-expense paid trip to Rome, complements of the Roman government But Paul would not get there the way he may have planned – God had a bigger idea

34. INTO ROMAN CAPTIVITY Lessons 2. God has a larger purpose in things that go wrong in our lives Paul was not to go as a preacher, but as a prisoner! That may seem unfortunate, but it was Good Paul tells us in Philippians 1:12-14 that what happened has really served to advance the Gospel

35. INTO ROMAN CAPTIVITY Lessons 2. God has a larger purpose in things that go wrong in our lives Paul continues that the Gospel has become known throughout the “whole Imperial Guard” and to all the rest – that his imprisonment was for Christ Scholars note that the Imperial Guard was charged with security for the Cesar himself, in the Cesar’s palace

36. INTO ROMAN CAPTIVITY Lessons 2. God has a larger purpose in things that go wrong in our lives The Imperial Guard members were becoming bold and speaking the word without fear. (Philippians 1:14) Wow! If we only knew what God is trying to do through the troubles and trials in our lives, we would not complain when we go through them

37. INTO ROMAN CAPTIVITY Lessons 2. God has a larger purpose in things that go wrong in our lives

38. INTO ROMAN CAPTIVITY Lessons 3. God often uses bad people to accomplish His larger purposes In our lesson, God used judgmental Jewish Christians, rabble-rousing lost Jews, and pagan Roman soldiers to carry out His plans Later in Acts we will see how God used wicked governors, kings, and various other rulers to get Paul to Rome

39. INTO ROMAN CAPTIVITY Lessons 3. God often uses bad people to accomplish His larger purposes God’s purposes were accomplished by bad Christians, lost Jews, or outright pagans Is there someone who has done or is doing bad things to you? Be assured that God will use their bad to accomplish good for you - because

40. INTO ROMAN CAPTIVITY Lessons 3. God often uses bad people to accomplish His larger purposes Paul tells us in Romans 8:28: “All things work together for good to them who love God, to them who are called according to His purpose.”

41. INTO ROMAN CAPTIVITY When you may be having a bad week, or a bad experience, or a bad relationship, do not give up All we may see is one little piece of a very big puzzle Paul could have been discouraged in his cell in Jerusalem But, two years later, he was in a different cell in a different city doing more from that little cell in Rome than he ever did traveling through all the Greek cities

42. INTO ROMAN CAPTIVITY When you have a bad week, or a bad experience, remember 1. Do not place your eyes on People, keep them on JESUS

43. INTO ROMAN CAPTIVITY When you have a bad week, or a bad experience, remember 1. Do not place your eyes on People, keep them on JESUS 2. God has a larger purpose in your trials and troubles, and

44. INTO ROMAN CAPTIVITY When you have a bad week, or a bad experience, remember 1. Do not place your eyes on People, keep them on JESUS 2. God has a larger purpose in your trials and troubles, and 3. God’s instruments to accomplish His purposes are often people – and sometimes even evil people

45. INTO ROMAN CAPTIVITY Will you submit to God’s working and let God finish the final picture through His power and grace?