For The Gospel and Unity of the Church

Well, good morning and Merry Christmas To you

guys and so fun as she said we get to sing just

Christmas carols together and familiar songs

together It is always a joy this season to be

together as a church family and focusing on the

birth of Jesus Christ and Just so you know Christmas

is just ten ten days away now so Yeah, Drew.

Yes. Come on. Yes. It's ten days away. The countdown

has begun And I know you guys are making preparations

for that as we are as a church together. Well,

let's grab our Bibles. We get to turn our attention

to God's Word this morning, which is always a

highlight of why we come together as a church

and turn to the book of Acts. We're going to

just keep going through Acts this week. In fact,

this will be the last message out of the book

of Acts for this year. Not the last message.

We would not stop in chapter 21 and not finish.

the rest of the book together but for this year

and then we'll pick it back up in January next

week we'll turn our attention to Christmas and

have a time looking at the Christmas story and

then we'll get into January and pick up in the

book of Acts from there but we're in Acts chapter

Acts 21 · chapter mention

21 and this morning is an important passage of

scripture as all of scripture is but in this

in particular with dealing with unity within

the church for the advancement of the gospel.

Unity within the church for advancement of the

gospel of the gospel and At the end of this chapter

and chapter 21 the Apostle Paul gets arrested.

I know shocker, right? The Apostle Paul's arrested

again, but the interesting reason why in Acts

Acts 21 · chapter mention

chapter 21 Let me just pray. Let me just read

first and then I'll pray Acts 21 We still get

verse 17 down to verse 20 together and I'll pray

for us and then we'll jump in to see all that

God has for us in this chapter. Acts 21, verse

Acts 21:17

17. When we had come to Jerusalem, the brothers

received us gladly. On the following day, Paul

went in with us to James, and all the elders

were present. After greeting them, he related

one by one the things that God had done among

the Gentiles through his ministry. And when they

heard it, They glorified God. They said to him,

you see brother, how many thousands there are

among the Jews of those who have believed. Let

me just pray for us so we, I know there's more

to this story, I guess cut us off, but give you

something to think about. Let me pray. Lord,

thank you for what we're about to study. The

Word of God. This isn't just another book pulled

off. the shelves of a library written by a mere

man. This is the Word of God. It's holy. It's

inspired. It's inerrant. And it's given to us

for us to see Jesus. It's given to us for us

to know the way of salvation. It's given to us

so that we can live a life of purpose, a life

of godliness, so that we can become more and

more like our Savior Jesus Christ. And Lord,

I pray that as we study the Word of God this

morning, that your Holy Spirit would be active

within our hearts, illuminating its truth to

us. We can't possibly know these spiritual things

apart from the work of the Spirit in our own

hearts, giving us understanding. So we pray for

that. Lord, I pray Lord that our hearts would

be transformed, that we would not just be those

who have A lot of knowledge built up in the cul

-de -sac of our brains just sitting there, but

that knowledge would have outlets and that outlets

would be fruits of righteousness. That that knowledge

would turn into praise and worship and we would

be more and more like Jesus Christ. Help us,

Lord, and we pray towards that end. In Jesus'

name, amen. Well all throughout the book of Acts

we've been studying the Apostle Paul and and

we know for sure that the Apostle Paul loved

the church When he came to know Christ, that's

what his mission was was to go out and to plant

churches Was to go back to those churches and

strengthen them to build up the leadership within

them And we can say that Paul had a deep deep

love for the church There's no question about

that And in that love for the church he knew

what was important for the church was the unity

within the church. Paul loved when a church was

unified because a unified church shows and displays

the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. This was

especially important for the early church because

the watching world would look in at this newly

formed body of believers and they would see how

unified they were around theology, how unified

they were around their practice, how unified

they were in their love for one another, and

it was a beautiful display of the gospel of Jesus

Christ. On the other side of that is if you walked

into a church or especially a newly formed believers

and all you saw was disunity and arguing and

bickering and complaining, that would not be

a very good look on Christianity. So unity was

at the the forefront and at the height of importance

when it came to the local church and especially

to the Apostle Paul in preserving Unity was in

the church Well in our passage this morning and

I I got us started there. I got us off the first

tee there This passage this morning the the threat

of disunity comes again to the church And we're

gonna see that the Apostle Paul is placed in

a difficult spot Where he would have to potentially

do something that goes against his preferences

And how he practices his faith for the attempt

of keeping and preserving unity within the church

And this is what's at stake in this passage the

unity of the church for the sake of the gospel

Now I broke up this passage for us in 17 all

the way down we're gonna go to verse 36 together

broken this down for us in three parts and I've

also kind of sprinkled in for us some principles

To help us kind of apply these things to our

lives and allow the Holy Spirit to To work on

our heart as we're growing in our knowledge and

understanding here So I wanted to have an outline

for us, but I also wanted some principles in

it But there's three main section sections here

that I want us to look at We draw out some understanding

and some principles in it and the first thing

I want us to see is this Paul's arrival and the

church's response Paul's arrival and the church's

response We just read it verse 17 when he had

come to Jerusalem The brothers received him gladly

on the following day went up Paul went up with

us to James and all the elders are present After

greeting them, he related one by one the things

that God had done among the Gentiles through

his ministry, and when they heard it, they glorified

God. So Paul had just finished his third missionary

journey, and his heart's desire was always to

get back to Jerusalem. And he wanted to go back

to Jerusalem because one of the reasons was he

had a collection of money that the churches had

brought together, and he wanted to bring that

and hand deliver it to Jerusalem. He always had

a heart to get back there and finally in verse

17 he made his way back to Jerusalem and He gets

back to Jerusalem and he reports to them all

that God had done through his ministry now This

was a a normal thing for Paul to do and in Acts

Acts 14 · chapter mention

chapter 14 in verse 26 to 28 It was after the

the first missionary journey was over and he

went back to Antioch and he reported all that

God had done for them After his second missionary

journey there's a similar thing in Acts chapter

Acts 18 · chapter mention

18 and verse 22 and following where he does a

similar thing where he reports back to the churches

what God had done through his ministry and now

he's doing it again. He comes to Jerusalem, he

finds the church, he finds James the head elder

of the church, they're all present there and

it says there that he reports back all these

wonderful things that God has done through his

ministry. And much has been done throughout his

missionaries, his journey, his third missionary

journey. Remember, he was in Ephesus and he was

there for three years and he was able to tell

them about the church in Ephesus, about the elders

there, the training of the elders. He was in

Philippi and he was able to talk about the church

there and how that church was built. He did so

many wonderful things. In fact, if this was a

Sunday in church and it was missionary Sunday,

it would be a Sunday that you would not want

to miss because the Apostle Paul was going to

share all the wonderful things that he had done,

that God was doing through him, and incredible

things that he had done, reporting in to the

church. This is what God has done. And look at

how they've received Him. Verse 17, when He had

come to Jerusalem, the brothers received us how?

Gladly. It means to receive with happiness and

a readiness and a willingness to receive. They

couldn't wait for the Apostle Paul to come join

them, to tell them all the wonderful things that

God had done through Him and through His ministry.

This was the reception that was given to Paul.

They wanted Paul with them. They were joyful.

They were excited. There was a warmth to their

reception. They received him gladly, wanting

to hear everything that he could tell them about

what God was doing in and around the known world.

Similar to in Philemon 1 .7, it says this, for

I derived much joy and comfort from your love,

my brother, because the hearts of the saints

have been refreshed through you. This was a time

of refreshment for Paul. A place to go and be

amongst other brothers and sisters in Christ.

This was a warm, glad reception that the church

gave to him. And this is a great principle for

us, right church? that we need to model such

a reception when people come into our church.

We need to greet them with the warmth and a one

that says, man, what a privilege it is that you

would come and join us for worship. Receiving

people gladly. Receiving people with warmth.

The Apostle Paul would tell a few different churches

that you are to greet one another with a kiss.

Now, I don't recommend that at all for our church,

by the way, but there's an idea here that there's

a warmth within the body of Christ that when

somebody comes into our presence, we say to them,

man, I am so glad you're here with us worshiping

the Lord. What's God doing in your life? Tell

me, I wanna hear. What's going on? How's God

moving? What are you learning? Receiving people

with the appropriate amount of gladness and warmth

into the service. And we get this often where

people have been a part of our church and maybe

they've moved away and they've come back and

we receive them with warmth. We have college

students who go away and come back and we receive

them back gladly. We have parents that come in

from out of town and out of state to see people,

people visiting. And what do we do church? We

receive them with gladness and warmth. Notice

the response of what they did with this information

that was given to them from the Apostle Paul.

Look at verse 20. When they heard it, what'd

they do? They glorified God. As Paul was relaying

all these stories of what God had done in his,

these missionary journeys, what did these people

do? They turned it into worship, and they glorified

God. Listen, the most God -honoring response.

to hearing what God has done in the lives of

others is to turn that into worship. You turn

that into praise. The church loved to hear these

success stories. How God was used. They loved

to hear the success of Paul in ministry. Now

let me ask you this question. When you hear of

the successes of other people, are you excited

for them and do you turn that into worship? When

you hear somebody else getting the job that you

wanted or the raise that you wanted or they retired

earlier than you thought you should have retired

and not them or their kids are. or more excellent

in different things, or they hit the ball farther

than your child, or their grandkids are better

than your grandkids, whatever it is, are you

thankful for the successes of other people? Take

it a step farther. Do you turn that into worship

and praise? Do you thank the Lord for their success

stories? Man, I love hearing a success story.

Thank you for telling me that. Let's worship

God. There's greater ways to worship God because

of what he's doing in your life. That's not a

moment to get bitter. That's not a moment to

complain. That's not a moment to become a victim.

That's a moment to say, wow, look what God is

doing in your life and let's turn that into praise.

Let's turn that into worship. Let's glorify God.

Godly, mature believers, listen, worship God

when others are successful. They thank God for

the success of other people, other families,

other churches. They don't look at the success

of other people and go, aw, woe is me. I wish

God used me. Whoa, look at all the success they

have. No, they turn that success and they hear

that and they go, wow, look what God's doing

in your life. Let's worship God. So two principles

here. Number one is this, be a warm church and

excited for what God is doing. And the second

principle is this, be someone who thanks God

for another success. Be that person. Let's be

that church I Notice what happens here They heard

it. They worship God they who's at the elders

of the church. That's who's who Paul is with

and there could be How does some say maybe up

to a hundred elders? This was a massive church

in Jerusalem The leader of that was James. We

were just told of that in verse 18, but what

happens here they said to him Let's read all

the way down to verse 26 here. They said them

you see brother How many thousands are there

among the Jews who have believed? They're all

zealous for the law And they have been told about

you what you teach all the Jews who are among

the Gentiles to forsake Moses Telling them not

to circumcise their children or walk according

to our customs verse 22 what then is to be done

They will certainly hear that you have come do

therefore what we tell you we have four men who

are under a vow these Take these men and purify

yourself among them and pay their expenses so

they may shave their heads. Thus all will know

that there is nothing in you what they have been

told about you, but that you yourself also live

in observance to the law. But as for the Gentiles

who have believed, we have sent a letter with

our judgment that they should abstain from what

has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and

from being strangled and from sexual immorality.

Then Paul took the men and the next day he purified

himself along with them went into the temple

Giving notice when the days of purification would

be fulfilled and the offering presented for each

one of them So we have here number two the elders

question and Paul's response What is the elders

question here the the elders here are saying

to him and saying hey Paul We just want you to

know that there are a number of believers Jewish

believers who are still in the city They've embraced

Christianity however They have remained deeply

committed to the ceremony law ceremonial law

of Moses Despite their Christian faith, they

found it challenging to separate themselves from

these Jewish customs. They live near the temple

and they still even offer sacrifices in the temple

and they enjoy feasts in the temple and this

is all part of their Jewish life and custom while

still believing that Jesus is the Messiah. There's

these Jews, Paul, that still highly value the

Jewish community. This is part of their identity.

This is part of their heritage. This is what

they do. This is all just part of the way that

they practice their faith. Now there's some within

that that were out for Paul and these Judaiders,

they wanted to undermine Paul and they claimed

that the Apostle Paul was teaching against and

was opposed to Judaism. They would even say that

the Apostle Paul was what was even teaching heresy

and apostasy that he was forsaking the the Jewish

customs and the Jewish traditions all together

and Alleging that he would even teach against

as it says there forsaking Moses and telling

them verse 21 telling them not to circumcise

their children or walk according to our customs

Now it's important to note this that these Jews

were believers They were still continuing in

this obedience to these ceremonies out of custom.

They were doing it out of tradition They weren't

doing it as a means of salvation These practices

weren't considered sinful. They just had a hard

time breaking away from some of these Jewish

traditions and some of these Jewish customs and

Now they were attacking the Apostle Paul as if

he was one teaching against them Warren Wearsby

says this Why were so many believing Jews still

clinging to the law of Moses? Had they not read

Romans and Galatians? Probably not And even if

they had, old customs are difficult to change.

In fact, one day God would have to send a special

letter to the Jews, the epistle to the Hebrews,

to explain the relationship between the old and

new covenants. As Dr. Donald Gray Barnhouse used

to say, the book of Hebrews was written to the

Hebrews to tell them to stop being Hebrews. It

was not until the city and the temple were destroyed

in 8070 that traditional Jewish worship ceased.

Paul did warn the Gentiles not to get involved

in the old Jewish religion, but he nowhere told

the Jews that it was wrong for them to practice

their customs so long as they did not trust in

ceremony or make their customs a test of fellowship.

There was freedom to observe special days and

diets, and believers were not to judge or condemn

one another. Now listen, the same grace that

gave Gentiles freedom to abstain also gave the

Jews freedom to observe. All God asked was that

they received one another and did not create

problems or divisions. So here's the issue. The

elders, they turn to Paul and say, hey, we've

heard that you're teaching. Contrary to the law

of Moses and there's people out here in this

Church and the Jew in the Jerusalem church that

that believe this to be true that that you're

teaching against Moses and you're teaching against

the law and you're teaching against customs and

you're teaching Against traditions and you're

telling people not to be circumcised They're

saying that you're now anti -jewish customs and

and even laws and we fear this that Division

is going to happen in the church over this Now

This was nothing more church this was nothing

more than gossip and a lie Nothing more than

gossip and a lie in fact turn back to act 16

Acts chapter 16 In verse 3 we want to know what

Acts 16 · chapter mention

Paul believed about circumcision. Well, here

we go Paul Wanted Timothy to accompany him and

he took him and what? circumcised him because

of the Jews who were in those places for they

all knew that his father was a Greek Paul was

not against the Jews being circumcised nor did

he teach against it look at Acts chapter 18 in

Acts 18 · chapter mention

verse 18 when it came to the vow the Nazarite

vow was Paul against that Well in Acts 18 18

Paul stayed with him a little longer He took

leave of his brothers and set sail for Syria

and with him Priscilla and Aquila at Sinclair

He had cut his hair for why for he was under

a vow Paul was not anti Jewish customs. He was

not anti Jewish religion religions he was not

a He never taught against circumcision What Paul

was against though, and we'll look at some of

these verses here, what Paul was against was

that doing those things would get you saved.

And he taught the Jews that hey, you are no longer

under the law for salvation for your sins. You're

no longer under the law. You no longer have to

do those things. And what was being spread around

about the apostle Paul and his teaching and who

he was was that it was nothing more than a lie.

It was nothing more that started out as gossip

and turned into one big lie. Why? To destroy

and divide the church. And no one is more happier.

this scenario right here in this section of our

Bible then Satan himself that a gossip would

turn into a lie and divide the biggest church

there was in Jerusalem the father of lies loves

this this is what he's really good at let's start

spreading a rumor hey the Apostle Paul doesn't

do these things he's against you He's against

religion. Is that what the apostle Paul really

said? That's not what he really said. What he

really said was this. Your religion is not going

to save you. Your ceremonial law is not going

to save you. You're no longer under the law.

And listen church, this is so dangerous to the

church. Undermining someone's character. spreading

lies and gossip about someone, making accusations

against someone without first talking to the

person. It can seriously do damage to the church.

I've witnessed this before. Or instead of going

to the person one -on -one, and maybe this is

where James, the head of the elder board, could

have said, hey, let me just talk to Paul to see

if this is true. Could have just said hey, this

is what's going on Paul. I want you to be aware

of this is is this true And Paul can say no,

it's not true. Let me clarify if it needs clarification.

Let me let me clarify Where we need to be those

who confront people when we hear something as

opposed to just turning around and passing on

a potential lie Gossip When someone is offended

we need to go to that person and talk to that

person One -on -one listen principle number three

lies and gossip have the power to split a church

So what do the elders do they say hey look at

verse 22 what what should we do then They will

certainly hear that you have come They know that

you're here in Jerusalem and and these believing

Jews are bothered they're upset they they believe

you to be against them and What are we supposed

to do about this and the elders could not get

ahead of the lies? And they believed Paul to

be kind of like this walking Time bomb they believed

him to be kind of this powder keg that that once

it gets out that he's around is going to explode

thousands of believers here So they come up with

this plan. Here's the plan. Here's what we're

gonna do look at verse 23 do therefore What we

tell you? We have four men They're under a vow

take these four men purify yourself along with

them pay for their expenses So they may may shave

their heads Thus all will know that there is

nothing in What they have been told about you

But that you yourself also live in observance

to the law. So what are we doing? Take these

guys? We're gonna go freshen them up. We're gonna

give them a fresh haircut here Paul you're gonna

pay for their expenses and you know, they're

gonna have a fresh cut like pastor Shay always

got a fresh cut It's gonna be more than that

though. We're going Dave Wells. We're going bald.

We're going straight bald here, right? We're

gonna we're cutting it all off Right, this was

the Nazarite vow and and Paul if you do these

things and pay for their expenses They're gonna

see like hey, okay great. He's still one of ours

He's still with us He just jumped into this Nazarite

vow he just paid for them to do these things

He's these things about what are said are not

true that that's what they were thinking This

will defuse the problem We'll show them you still

love the Old Testament. You still love the law.

Let's appease the people Let's appease the critics

by coming up with this solution and Everyone

will be happy Pastor Jack Arnold says this he

says the leaders Fearing a division accepted

the philosophy of peace at any price We will

find out that the taking of the vow did not appease

the critics for they were in sin for judging

Paul, listening to hearsay and having a critical

spirit. Critical people must deal with their

sinful attitudes before God until they repent

they will never be appeased. What is he saying?

Paul could have shaved the heads of a thousand

people. Paul could pay the expenses for everyone

in Jerusalem and it still would not have been

enough Why because when somebody has a critical

spirit about someone else? It doesn't matter

what they do. They could go to the moon and back

and it's not gonna matter This is what's happening

here these people had had such a critical spirit

about Paul that it did not matter what he did

They were so bitter so upset at the Apostle Paul

believe the lies believe the gossip Paul could

have done anything and everything to try to Outwardly

show like hey guys. I'm on your side. It didn't

matter. They had a critical spirit. Their problem

was in the heart You guys have any critical people

in your life There's no of critical people. Are

you a critical person? Have a critical spirit

You ever tried to appease someone that you knew

they had a critical spirit about you I Know what

I'll do. I'll be extra nice to them. That's great.

You should be nice. You should be nice anyway,

whether they're critical or not You try to do

a little bit more for them and a little bit more

and a little bit more and a little bit more and

a little bit more More more more more more and

you're like, why isn't this working? It's not

working because it's not an outward problem.

It's an inward problem It's not working because

we can't actually appease somebody who has a

critical spirit And what we have to do is we

have to turn that over to the Lord and say God

You have to do what I cannot do and that is you

have to do some heart work on this person Maybe

it is you have to do some heart work on my own

heart And my own soul Unfortunately, we see this

in marriages all too often where a spouse has

such a critical spirit that Yet their husband

or their wife can't do anything right anymore

They're just trying and trying and trying and

Because of the bitterness they can't even see

anymore the effort. They can't even see anymore

the attempt and so often in counseling, we're

just trying to get people to see their own hearts.

And how their own critical nature is preventing

them to see the good thing that is right in front

of them. These Jews wouldn't, peas, we're gonna

see this in verse 27 if we ever get there, we'll

see it that they, it was never enough and they

wanted to kill him in verse 31. Finally it gets

to 31, they wanna kill him. So here you have

this dilemma for Paul, right? He's he's accused

of things that were not true They wanted to participate

in ceremonial law They wanted to pay for these

four men to give him a haircut to get under the

Nazarite Nazarite vowel yet. Yeah, here's Paul

He's preached against this being an act of salvation

He's preached that these things cannot save you

in fact in Galatians 2 16 he said this Yet we

know that a person is not justified by works

of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ.

So we have believed in Jesus Christ in order

to be justified by faith and not by works of

the law, because by works of the law, no one

will be justified. So you have this dilemma that

Paul is in. They want him to do these things

and Paul's preached against it and he doesn't

want the people to think that now I'm turning

against what I taught and going back to these

old customs as if they're going to save you.

So Paul's like, well what do I do? How is he

going to respond? Do I just? Do this even though

it may look like I'm obeying for salvation, which

he's not do I do this? So there's no division

in the church He did not believe that circumcision

or obedience to the law saved he didn't he didn't

want to give that impression But he also didn't

want division within the church And you want

to know what else pop Paul was concerned about

I believe this was also in the heart of Paul

Paul was also concerned about obeying his elders

How could Paul write in Hebrews 13 5 to obey

your leaders if he himself doesn't obey in this

scenario How could he write those things but

you can feel the tension here that Paul is in

We know what Paul eventually does he eventually

goes ahead with what they ask him to do in obedience

to the elders requests He took the vow. Some

believe that Paul was in sin here by going back

under the law. In fact G. Campbell Morgan, maybe

you've heard of this writer, he says this, this

was the greatest mistake in the ministry of the

Apostle Paul. I don't believe that. I don't believe

it's the biggest mistake in the ministry of the

Apostle Paul. Believe this I believe that Paul

loved the church so much that he wanted to to

spread the gospel so much that listen He was

willing to put aside a preference of his and

a way of practicing his Christian faith For the

sake of unity in the church and gospel advancement

This is what he said in first Corinthians 9 20

to 22 to the Jews I became a Jew why in order

to win juice To those under the law what I became

as one under the law though not being myself

under the law, that I might, what? Win those

under the law. To those outside the law, I became

as one outside the law, not being outside the

law of God, but under the law of Christ, why?

That I might win those outside the law. To the

weak, I became weak, that I might win the weak.

I have become all things to all people, that

by all means, I might save some. Why did Paul

do this? For people to come to know Christ. For

the advancement of the gospel for the unity of

the church. He says to the elders I will obey

you you believe that this is what's right This

is now a strong preference of mine. I'm going

to put it to the side Why so some of the Jews

might come to know Christ? He saw a greater glory

for God in this He saw greater service to God

by doing what the elders had asked him to do,

so that some may come to know Christ for the

unity of the church. You say, well, what does

that look like today? It may sound something

like this. Hey, I really don't like the worship

or the music. It's not my preference, but you

know what, for the unity of the church, I'm not

gonna complain about it. I don't like how long

the pastor preaches, but you know what, for his

sake, I'm not gonna complain about it. For the

sake of the church, I may not like this, I may

not like that, or they practice it this way,

I wouldn't practice it that way, but you know

what, for the unity of the church, I'm not gonna

complain. For the unity of the church, I'm gonna

set that aside. For the advancement of the gospel

of Jesus Christ. I'm gonna put aside a tertiary

issue, one of lesser importance, one that's not

a salvific issue. I'm gonna put these issues

of personal preference off to the side, even

these issues or these conclusions that you come

with that you have because of your own study

of God's word and you're even willing to say,

I'm not going to make a big deal of that because

I care about the unity of the church. I want

people to see how unified we are around Christ

and I want this to be a beautiful picture of

the gospel of Jesus Christ for people when they

come in here and there's not complaining and

there's not bickering and there's not division,

there's unity around the most important thing

and that's the gospel. And I put those things

to the side. You say, well, sounds like you want

me to make a compromise. Yes. See how that compromise

is bad. Compromise is not all bad. Let me give

you an illustration. Maybe this will be real

life for you. You guys are gonna get into a car

right after this, most of you. And you're gonna

sit in the car and you're gonna look over to

the person sitting next to you and you're gonna

go, what are we doing for lunch today? And the

person sitting next to you is going to say, well,

we're going to have leftovers. And you're going

to go, ah, I don't really want leftovers. Didn't

we just eat that last night? Yep, we ate it last

night. I was hoping that we could go out to dinner

or out to lunch. And the other person is going

to say, well, ah, we just spent a bunch of money

on Christmas gifts. We probably shouldn't go

out to eat. OK, well, how about we just go to

Chipotle then? Because that's kind of like going

out to eat. Well, I was actually thinking if

we are gonna go out to eat let's go have a hamburger

One of you are gonna have to do what? You have

to compromise say why for the sake of your marriage,

please compromise in that in that scenario It's

not a bad compromise John Stott says this the

solution to which he came was not compromise

in the sense of sacrificing a doctrinal or moral

principle but a concession in the area of practice

that's what's happening principle number four

then is this when appropriate look beyond personal

preferences to grace for the sake of unity adapt

even when it's uncomfortable for the love of

the church even ask yourself questions is this

an issue about salvation Is this an issue about

gospel drift? Is this an issue about the culture?

Is this about practice? And this is something

that you can put to the side for the sake of

unity within the church We got to keep moving

verse 25 the Gentiles have for the Gentiles who

have believed We sent a letter of judgment that

they should abstain from what has been sacrificed

to idols from the blood from what has been strangled,

from sexual immorality. This is going back to

the Jerusalem Council and the letters that were

written there. You can go back and study that

for yourself. Verse 26, then Paul took the men.

The next day he purified himself along with them

and went into the temple giving notice, and giving

purification would be fulfilled, and the offering

presented for each of them. Verse 27. When the

seven days were almost completed, the Jews from

Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up the

whole crowd, laid hands on him, crying out, Men

of Israel, help! This is a man who is teaching

everyone, everywhere, against the people and

the law and this place. Moreover, he even brought

Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy

place. For they have previously seen Trophimus

the Ephesian with him in the city, and they suppose

that Paul had brought him into the temple. Then

all the city was stirred up, and the people ran

together. They seized Paul, dragged him out of

the temple, and at once the gates were shut.

And as they were seeking to kill him, word came

to the tribune of the cohort that all of Jerusalem

was in confusion. He at once took soldiers and

centurions, ran down to them, and when they saw

the tribune and the soldiers, they stopped beating

Paul. The tribune came up and arrested him and

ordered him to be bound with two chains. He inquired

who he was and what he had done. Some in the

crowd were shouting one thing, some another.

As he could not learn the facts because of their

uproar he ordered him to be brought into the

barracks And when he had come to the steps he

was actually carried by the soldiers Because

of the violence of the crowd for the mob of the

people followed crying out away from him So number

three is this Jerusalem is in chaos and Paul's

arrest As I mentioned earlier no matter what

Paul did by concession it would not be enough

There was bitterness there's deep harboring of

dislike for Paul no matter what he practiced

they were not going to like him and Jerusalem

now is in chaos and verse 30 it says the whole

city was stirred up verse 31 Jerusalem was in

confusion and Satan could not be happier We've

got him distracted This is great Everybody's

in confusion. Everybody's in chaos. They're not

worshiping the Lord. This is exactly what Satan

wants They hear Paul's in town they arrest him

they seek to kill him they beat him so much so

that the soldier had to carry him Put him in

the barracks sought to take his life Principle

number five for some Especially those who are

bitter or critical you can never do enough for

them to change their mind God will have to change

it God will have to change it Well in God's providence

we get a time for communion And I want to just

turn our attention to that this morning always

seems so appropriate for us to end our our service,

especially with a Message like this where we're

seeking our own hearts Men why don't you guys

come up and let's have the the band come back

up and What I like for us to do is the elements

are going to be passed. I just want to remind

you Communion is for communion is for Believers

if you're a believer in Jesus Christ. We want

you to take communion if you're not a believer

in Jesus Christ Then we ask that you allow the

elements to pass. The Bible makes it clear if

you take communion in an unworthy way that judgment

will come upon you. And we just want to make

sure that you are a believer in Christ as you

take these elements. These elements are just

that. There's nothing special about them. There's

nothing unique about them. But they are for remembrance.

We get to hold the gospel in our hands. Showing

us as we hold it there the body of Christ that

was sacrificed for us and the blood of Christ

that was the payment for our sin. And what I

want you to do in this time of just silence here

and even as Ivan plays some music in the background

is just allow yourself some time to reflect.

on what you just heard, and in time to reflect

on the gospel, what God has done for your life.

Maybe there's someone even in this room that

you need to go and ask forgiveness for, having

offended them. Maybe there's some reconciliation

that needs to happen. But let's just have a moment

here just to, between you and your Savior. which

represents the body of Jesus Christ. At Christmas

time we celebrate God coming into the world in

human flesh. Same way that all of us came into

the world. Eventually Jesus would go to the cross,

die on the cross for our sins, and His body would

be that which would be sacrificed. And in 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 11:23

11 verse 23 it says, As the Apostle Paul was

relating the story of what Christ said in the

upper room, he said, I received from the Lord

what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus

on the night he was betrayed, he took the bread,

and when he had given thanks, he broke it and

said, this is my body which is for you. Do this

in remembrance of me. Church, let's take this

in remembrance of Jesus and sacrifice for us.

You also hold in your hand the cup, which represents

the blood of Jesus. And in the blood of Jesus,

it represents to us the new covenant that we

have in Christ. Even what we talked about, what

the Apostle Paul was preaching so much against

was that, hey, we're no longer under the law.

We no longer strive for salvation through the

works of the law. We're under a new covenant,

and that new covenant is the blood of Jesus Christ.

He paid it all. He did every work that was done

for us that we could never do and because of

that Because of faith in Jesus Christ and the

sacrifice that he has made for us. We have forgiveness

of sins and eternal life Let's take that this

cup together thinking about that Lord thank you

for communion. Thank you for this remembrance

of the gospel the hope that we have in Jesus

Christ our Lord and Savior. In His name we pray,

amen.