YOUTH STS LESSON 217 PAUL TAKES A JEWISH VOW, ACTS 21
MEMORY VERSE: “Then Paul took the men, and the next day purifying himself with them entered into the temple, to signify the accomplishment of the days of purification, until that an offering should be offered for every one of them” (Acts 21:26).
TEXT: Acts 21:1-40
Apostle Paul arrived Jerusalem amidst fears and worries regarding his safety. However on his way, he met hospitable brethren who were willing to accommodate him as well as cater for his needs. They received him gladly and accepted him as one of them. As Christian youths, the Lord wants us to avoid worrying over how we would cope with whatever assignment He gives us, but to move on with faith in His word. After Paul settled down in Jerusalem, he joined James and other elders at Jerusalem who were the members of the council and he shared testimonies of what God had done. They also shared testimonies with him and discussed the work which Paul had been involved with.
Question 1: What are the benefits of fellowship to believers?
Fellowship affords believers the opportunity to build friendships with people of like precious faith. This friendship enables proper caring and sharing in the church. Fellowship also builds the unity of the church which Christ prayed for (John 17:11). Christ wants the church to remain as one. Fellowship also helps to expand the kingdom of God so that more people are reached. When the church members act and work together as one, Christ’s prayer that the gates of hell would not prevail against the church will be fulfilled.
Before now, there have been prophecies and warnings that Paul would be arrested, punished, bound and delivered to the Gentiles. Eventually, Paul came to Jerusalem despite all the prophecies of his sufferings there. Consequently, “the Jews which were of Asia, when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the people, and laid hands on him” (verse 27). They hated him because he had preached against their spiritual blindness and religion without righteousness. That hatred, coupled with unconfirmed supposition, made them to raise an alarm against him as an evildoer. Paul was arrested and beaten almost to death. We should note that the revelations that Paul would suffer were not to prevent him from going to Jerusalem because God had said long before then “how great things he must suffer” (Acts 9:16). Our Lord Jesus Christ had a full knowledge of His suffering even before it came; yet, He went to Jerusalem by Himself and was there until He was arrested. Despite the threat of persecution, Christian youths should strive to do God’s will in all things.
1. PAUL’S JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM (Acts 21:1– 17; Ephesians 5:11; 2 Corinthians 6: 14; Hebrews 10: 25; Genesis 39:1–10,13; 1 Samuel 3:19–21; Daniel 1:8-20)
As Paul continued on his journey to Jerusalem, the ship had to unload her cargo at Tyre and Paul disembarked with the brethren. He found some disciples at Tyre and decided to fellowship with them. They ended up spending seven days with the brethren as they fellowshipped together in love. Christians are expected to fellowship together with one another.
Fellowship is believers gathering together in love, sharing and caring for one another. Christian fellowship fosters trust, hope, a sense of belonging, security, lifelong friendships, faith, patience, selflessness, true and unconditional love that can only come from people who have personal relationship with God.
Question 2: How can believing youths experience fellowship in the church today?
There are various ways youths can fellowship with other believers today. The church has the Youth Home Success Fellowship (YHSF) which holds in various locations. We also have the School Fellowships where youths from the same or nearby school can gather together for fellowship. These fellowships build our Christian faith and help us become better youths and leaders of our generation. There are several other church programmes such as the Success Camp, Retreats and church weekly services which take place close to wherever we live.
Philip the evangelist, filled with the Holy Spirit, was committed to preaching the gospel and God had already used him before this time to preach to the Ethiopian Eunuch and several cities (Acts 8: 26 – 40). As Paul got to Caesarea, he spent time to fellowship with Philip and his family. Philip had four daughters who were believers and committed to the gospel. They had their testimony of high moral purity and prophesied as led by the Spirit of God. Philip’s daughters are models to believing youths today. In the midst of their corrupt environment, they maintained their fidelity to God. They walked in the light of the Lord and did not allow their friends and peers to influence them negatively.
Question 3: What can believing youths do to ensure both spiritual and physical purity?
Christian youths need to love the Lord, read and study His word, abide in His word and follow His ways. They also need to spend time praying daily and preaching the word of God to the lost souls. Youths should also be principled like Daniel and not allow their peers and school mates to influence them negatively. Ensure that you only walk with those that positively influence you. “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you” (2 Corinthians 6:17).
It was while Paul was still in the house of Philip that Agabus, a prophet from Judea, came to Caesarea and stated the revelation he had received from the Lord regarding what Paul was to face in Jerusalem. In his explanation, he used Paul’s girdle to demonstrate what the apostle was going to pass through at Jerusalem. In spite of this startling revelations, Paul still remained determine to go to Jerusalem since it had been earlier revealed to him by God (Acts 21:13). When the people saw that he would not be distracted, they ceased, saying, “the will of God be done”.
2.PAUL UNDERGOES THE JEWISH VOW (Acts 21:18-26; 11:1-4; 15:1-6, 23-29; Numbers 6:1-21; 1 Corinthians 9:21-27; 1 Peter 1:22; 22-25; Hebrews 10:4-11)
It is instructive that as Paul entered Jerusalem, without delay, he went to the council of the elders of the church the next day where he met all the elders of the church gathered together. He had been a great asset to the work and the expansion of the church around the world in obedience to Christ’s instruction (Mark 16:15). He did not work in isolation although God had used him to do great things in the Kingdom.
James, the brother of Jesus, was the head of the council at Jerusalem and the leader of the church in Jerusalem (Acts 15:13; Galatians 1:19; 2:9). Although he was not initially one of the twelve, he was called an apostle just like Paul due to the great work God was doing through him. Paul confirmed the apostleship of James in the book of Galatians. “But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord’s brother” (Galatians 1:19).
”And when he had saluted them, he declared particularly what things God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry” (Acts 21:19). Paul had been a great instrument in reaching out to the Gentiles. He first saluted the brethren showing respect and love to them as the elders in the Jerusalem council, after which he shared testimonies of what had happened in his ministry. He was focused and committed to the ministry which God had given to him.
After Paul finished testifying of the great things which God had done through his ministry to the Gentiles, the elders also told him how many Jews had also become converted. “Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law: And they are informed of thee, that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs” (Acts 21:20,21). However, they stated that there was a challenge in Jerusalem. There were some Jews who still carried on their campaign about the issues regarding circumcision and other Jewish customs against Paul. They accused him of forsaking the Law of Moses by not requiring the Gentile converts to be circumcised while teaching the Jewish Christians to forsake the laws. Paul did not teach anything contrary as speculated by these people. He had insisted that Timothy undergo circumcision because of the Jewish Christians at Galatia, though Paul knew and preached that the ceremonial laws were not a means to salvation. “Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God” (1 Corinthians 7:19).
The church leaders knew the matter had been settled before Paul set out on his second missionary journey. But, to avoid confusions among the Jewish Christians, they asked Paul to pay for the Temple sacrifices of four Jewish Christians who had taken a Nazarite vow and purify himself with them. “Them take, and purify thyself with them, and be at charges with them, that they may shave their heads: and all may know that those things, whereof they were informed concerning thee, are nothing; but that thou thyself also walkest orderly, and keepest the law” (Acts 21:24). Paul was a strong-willed person who stated over and over again that salvation was not by the law but by faith in Jesus Christ. He, however, decided in agreement to the decision of the elders of the church at Jerusalem to ensure there was peace in the church. Paul did not major on minor things. He did not allow disagreements to divide the church. Hence he decided to abide by their custom which did not affect his faith nor make him go against the word of God.
Question 4: How can believing youths avoid compromise?
As Christian youths, we should remain firm and uncompromising on the essentials of the Christian faith. Paul rejected the idea that the laws of Moses brought salvation to those who kept them, but he accepted the view that the Old Testament laws prepare us for and teaches us about the coming of Christ.
”Then Paul took the men, and the next day purifying himself with them entered into the temple, to signify the accomplishment of the days of purification, until that an offering should be offered for every one of them” (Acts 21:26). Paul completed the rite for the purification at the temple. These purification rites were those of the Nazarite vow which signified the consecration.
3.PAUL APPREHENDED BY THE JEWS (Acts 21:27-40; Acts 5:40-42; 16:22-24,37; James 5:9)
”And when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews which were of Asia, when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the people, and laid hands on him” (verses 27). Paul had joined himself with four men who had a vow to perform. This would take about seven days to consummate. The Jews had grudges against Paul that he had always taught against their custom everywhere he went. Also, they saw him in the city with Trophimus, an Ephesian who was a Gentile convert. Unfortunately, “they supposed” that Paul had brought him into the temple to defile it. Hence, they arrested Paul for defiling their cultural heritage.
The moment Paul was arrested, the aim of the people was to kill him. Somehow, rumor got to the chief captain “Who immediately took soldiers and centurions, and ran down unto them”. When they saw the soldiers, they stopped their mob action on Paul. At this time in the history of the children of Israel, they were under the Roman government, a highly civilised government that permitted respect of individual’s right. Normally, they should have filed a suit against Paul but they took the law into their hands and wanted to beat and kill him. Jesus Christ had said to His disciples: “But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them” (Mark 13:9). All the apostles of the Lord experienced being beaten and tortured for their faith in Christ (Acts 5:40).
Question 5: What can we learn from the attitude of the disciples to the beating from their persecutors?
The apostles had a very joyful disposition at the time of their sufferings. All Christian youths should be delighted when they go through any suffering for Christ. Examples abound in the Scriptures of people who endured through the period of the trial of their faith: Daniel, the three Hebrew youths, Jeremiah, the early Church and their leaders.
“Then the chief captain came near, and took him, and commanded him to be bound with two chains; and demanded who he was, and what he had done” (verse 33). The chief captain was a very senior military officer who was in charge of maintaining peace and order in the community. His presence halted the intended killing of Paul. God used this to keep Paul out of the hands of those who would have wasted his life. Though Paul was brutally beaten for the sake of the gospel, it was not yet God’s time for him to die. He would still bear the name of the Lord before the Gentiles and their rulers (Acts 9:15).
Question 6: Who can we trust for our deliverance?
“They that trust in the LORD shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever” (Psalm 125:1). God plans the deliverance of His ministers and saints from the hands of the persecutors. In the Old Testament, we have examples of how God delivered Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego from the fiery furnace. Another example is the deliverance of Daniel from the lion’s den. God delivered Jeremiah from his persecutors until the time he was appointed to die. Paul’s testimony later was: “Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen” (2 Timothy 4:17, 18). He acknowledged that it was God that delivers from distress and despair of persecutions. We should pray to God for our deliverance in times of persecution, believing that He will surely deliver us.
Many of Paul’s persecutors cried that they did not want him. A cry they made against Christ too. The disciples are just like their Master. Eventually, Paul began to speak in the audience of the people to make his identity known. This he intended to do to be able to persuade them that he was not against their tradition. But God had determined that through this, he must bear His name to the Gentiles and their kings. No matter how hard we try to get out of the trouble of persecution, we can only succeed as far as God wants us to if we remain uncompromising. However, God has a plan of delivering His chosen ones from all forms of persecutions, trials, temptations and turbulence.
