Running the Race
Acts 21:1-14
May 12, 2013
Well we have spent the last 6 weeks studying the pastor’s conference
That Paul had in Miletus with the elders of the Ephesian church.
And that (at least for me) was a rich study
With tremendous insight not only in regard to the calling of a shepherd,
But also the high priority God puts on the health of His flock.
And now, we move on with our narrative in the book of Acts.
• Paul is traveling back to Jerusalem.
• He is collecting that often spoken of “offering for the saints” and now is going to deliver it.
• And from other passages we know that Paul’s goal is to hurry and get to Jerusalem to see if he can get there in time for Pentecost.
(And based on what we studied this morning,
I think you can see why Pentecost was such a big deal.
It is the yearly celebration of “God in us”)
So Paul is headed to Jerusalem.
Now, one very interesting thing we learned during his pastor’s conference
Was that Paul has a very difficult expectation for this trip.
Acts 20:22-24 “And now, behold, bound by the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me. “But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.”
And when we talked about this,
We noted that Paul expected to succeed in ministry through sacrifice.
And through this we found a tremendous example
Of what a shepherd is and does.
But let’s focus in a little more on that statement here tonight.
And just look at a few obvious facts from that statement.
1) He is on his “way to Jerusalem”
That we get, he is taking the offering there.
2) He is “bound by the Spirit” to do so.
So it is the Holy Spirit that literally has Paul bound to this mission.
3) He doesn’t know what will “happen to [him] there”
The specifics are blurry.
4) But he knows that “bonds and afflictions await” him.
So the specifics aren’t clear, and yet he knows that what is coming will be difficult.
5) Paul sees this mission as his calling from Jesus.
“But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.”
So we have a man on a mission from Jesus who knows that what he will face will not be pleasant, but he is doing it anyway.
All for the purpose of “finishing his course”
• Paul fully understood that his life had a divine calling.
• Paul fully understood that there was a race laid out before him.
• Paul fully understood that he had been called on a mission.
(and we all are)
But Paul was fully assured of this.
He was running a predetermined race.
This was his race.
And despite the fact that his race carried him through hardship
He decided to run it anyway.
That is a tremendous example for all of us
In regard to living this Christian life.
Many of you have been studying the book of Hebrews
On Sunday mornings.
Hebrews 12:1-2 “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Of course in that setting we had Christian Jews who are debating abandoning Christ simply because the calling to follow Christ is becoming costly.
The preacher has already warned them of the dangers of falling away,
And he has already given them example after example
Of people who have endured in this life before them.
We call those examples “The Faith Hall of Fame”
Hebrews 11 is a list of people who faithfully and successfully
Ran the race put before them.
• I’m not sure if David would have selected war with a giant…
• I’m not sure if Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego would have signed up for a fiery furnace…
• I don’t know if Daniel was fond of lions…
• I don’t know if leading Israel out of Egypt was Moses’ dream…
• I don’t know if building a boat was always a goal for Noah…
• I don’t know if being sold to Egypt was part of Joseph’s plans…
Those people didn’t get a say as to which race they would run,
But one thing was certain, they ran it anyway.
And the writer of Hebrews pointed that out.
Then he gave these two tremendous verses.
Since we have so many people who have faithfully run before you, why don’t you now faithfully run too?
“let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,”
NOW WE ALSO HAVE A RACE SET BEFORE US
Now in some ways we are all running a similar race.
We are all in the same town, under the same government, in the same
economy, experiencing the same drought…
But in some ways we are all running different races.
Different health issues, financial issues, family issues…
And yet, we were never asked to volunteer for any certain race.
Our race was merely “set before us”
When Paul preached to the Athenians he said:
Acts 17:26 “and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,”
There is a divine hand behind the life that we live.
Psalms 139:15-16 “My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.”
God has a race for everyone to run.
And Paul was no different.
Acts 9:15-16 “But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.”
Paul had a race to run.
Paul had a course to finish.
I don’t know what your race or course requires,
I don’t know the burdens you will face or the hardships you will endure.
• I don’t know if you will be rich or poor
• I don’t know if you will face persecution or martyrdom
• I don’t know if sickness is in your future
• I don’t know.
• I don’t even know what is in my future.
But I do know this: that despite the difficulty of the race you face,
You must run it none the less.
Every man and woman of faith did.
Even consider Jesus (as this writer says)
Luke 12:49-50 “I have come to cast fire upon the earth; and how I wish it were already kindled! “But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished!”
John 12:27-28 “Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. “Father, glorify Your name.” Then a voice came out of heaven: “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.”
Matthew 26:39 “And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.”
Matthew 26:52-54 “Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword. “Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels? “How then will the Scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must happen this way?”
And of course after enduring the cross,
Jesus hanged on the cross and said:
John 19:30 “Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.”
Jesus finished His course.
Jesus finished His race.
AND YOU GET THE IDEA.
We all have a race.
Well tonight, I want to show you Paul as he runs his.
Now we know that Paul is going to finish his race.
In the last chapter of the last book he wrote:
2 Timothy 4:6-8 “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”
What I want you to see tonight is Paul in the midst of it.
At this point, Paul is somewhere along the backstretch,
Maybe even coming into the final turn.
Paul is not finished he is in the middle.
But let me show you what it took for him to run it.
This passage focuses on Paul’s resiliency.
Three things
#1 HE ACCEPTED A REMINDER
Acts 20:1-3
Now I know when we read those first three verses,
It really doesn’t look like it contains anything very theological,
And that is true.
These three verses are nothing more than a traveler’s log.
What is so special about that?
The special part is that Paul was doing it.
Acts 20:22-23 “And now, behold, bound by the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me.”
Paul knew what was coming, and he went anyway.
And please notice that this wasn’t just an eerie feeling he was getting.
• The Holy Spirit was testifying to Paul seriously in every city.
• He was continuously reminded of what was coming.
And yet, he went anyway.
NOW THINK ABOUT IT LIKE THIS.
• Let’s suppose you told me that tonight after church you have plans to go to Lubbock.
You have some errands you need to run and so you are going to Lubbock.
(thanks for coming to church first, by the way)
• So you are going to Lubbock and then I come and tell you, “God has just revealed to me that when you go to Lubbock, you will be arrested and put in jail.”
WHAT WOULD YOU DETERMINE YOU SHOULD DO?
• Most, if not all of us, would then say, “Well, I guess God is telling me not to go to Lubbock.”
It would have been really easy for Paul to say, “The Holy Spirit is telling me to stay away from Jerusalem.”
But that is not what Paul deduced.
He was still on a mission from the Lord Jesus Christ,
Only he knew where it was headed.
THAT IS AMAZING!
The goal was to endure, finish the race, and complete the course
And so he accepted this constant reminder.
In order to faithfully run our race, we have to do the same.
Maybe we don’t have SPECIFIC REMINDERS like Paul did,
But we certainly have CORPORATE ones.
2 Timothy 3:12 “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”
Philippians 1:29-30 “For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me, and now hear to be in me.”
We have those same reminders of suffering.
It is real.
And if you are going to sign up to run this race,
You are going to have to accept that as well.
What did Jesus teach us?
Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
We are all called to understand where this thing is headed.
Now, unlike Paul, we may not know specifically what is coming,
But we have to mindful that we live in a world
That is growing ever increasingly more hostile to the gospel.
We have to open our eyes to what we are facing.
TURN TO: LUKE 14:25-35
And you understand the analogy Jesus is making there about counting the cost.
But really zone in on those last two verses. (34-35)
“Therefore salt is good”
That sort of seems to just fly out of nowhere doesn’t it?
What is Jesus talking about?
Well, we know who the salt of the earth is, it is us.
We are the ones who add flavor, who understand what makes life liveable.
And salt is good, but only if it will perform its intended function.
If you take salt that refuses to be salty, it is useless.
• In those two verses, good salt represents a disciple who counts the cost, embraces the cost and takes taste to the world.
• Tasteless salt is that disciple who either doesn’t count the cost, or who counts it and doesn’t sign up.
See, what Jesus is looking for is people who
Even when they look down the track and see hardship coming,
They determine to run the race anyway.
That is what Paul is doing.
As far as we know he didn’t suffer in any of these initial towns,
But each of those towns took him one step closer to the town where he would.
And yet Paul went anyway.
He accepted the reminder and endured.
He Accepted a Reminder
#2 HE EMBRACED A REALITY
Acts 21:4-6
Now in these few verses the stakes are raised a little bit.
Paul has come to Tyre and stayed there for a week with the disciples.
“and they kept telling Paul through the Spirit not to set foot in Jerusalem.”
Now first off, let’s try to understand this better.
Because one could read this like a command from God
And Paul is being disobedient if he continues on.
First let’s consider Paul.
• He has also been listening to the Holy Spirit, and has thus far only been compelled to go.
• Paul even said that this mission he received from “the Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:24)
• Paul certainly was not beyond sin, but never indicated that he ever felt as though God was telling him he did wrong.
So it is hard to fathom that Paul was sinning here.
On the hand we look at the disciples.
• It is not a stretch to realize that the Holy Spirit has also revealed to them what is coming for Paul.
• But it does not indicate that they were to dissuade Paul from going.
• It is quite possible that the pressure not to go, was their own application to the truths the Spirit revealed.
(Similar to God saying you will be arrested in Lubbock
And so you assume God is telling not to go to Lubbock)
That is what is going on here.
These disciples catch wind even from the Holy Spirit
What is going to happen to Paul and they don’t want him to go.
And yet:
(5-6) “When our days there were ended, we left and started on our journey, while they all, with wives and children, escorted us until we were out of the city. After kneeling down on the beach and praying, we said farewell to one another. Then we went on board the ship, and they returned home again.”
You can see that now it is getting even more real
And yet Paul is still pushing forward.
Now he doesn’t just have a generic reminder,
He has A SPECIFIC WARNING or reality.
Let me try to explain the difference.
We have a team preparing to go to Zimbabwe.
• The Reminder is that Zimbabwe is an unstable country.
• Zimbabwe is a country with unstable roads.
• And it is possible that hardship could befall those who go.
That is a reminder that everyone on that team must face.
Bad things can happen, and yet when God calls someone to go,
They must count that cost and sign up anyway.
But this next occurrence would be to take it a step further.
• This would be like Shakes (last year’s guide) saying – “Don’t go to Zimbabwe”
• This would be someone with reliable information telling us not to go, it is too
dangerous, and we will be harmed.
The first is a general reality, the second is getting much more serious.
And yet Paul embraced the reality of suffering continued on anyway.
That is what we call running the race with endurance.
He pushed on.
He Accepted a Reminder He Embraced a Reality
#3 HE DENIED A REQUEST
Acts 21:7-14
Now we see that Paul has made it to Caesarea
• He is now close to Jerusalem.
• All he has to do is walk from here.
And he comes to the home of “Philip the evangelist”
You remember Philip, one of the initial deacons.
The man who witnessed to the Ethiopian Eunich and all the Samaritans.
Well Philip now has “four virgin daughters who were prophetesses”
Many have sited this verse as grounds for women pastors.
No, Scripture is clear that women cannot serve as pastors.
• But that does not mean that women can’t proclaim the gospel.
Perhaps that is what these girls did.
We don’t know, because nothing they said is recorded.
• Some historians have noted them as great historians themselves and that is
why Luke mentions them.
• Isaiah’s wife is called a prophetess, not because she preached, but because
she had a child with a prophetic name.
It’s really impossible to know the capacity in which these girls served,
But they did in some way.
(10-11) “As we were staying there for some days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. And coming to us, he took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands, and said, “This is what the Holy Spirit says: ‘In this way the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.'”
Alright, now this is serious.
(If that was us, the first thing we would do is sell that belt!)
• No more possibilities…
• No more generic warnings…
• Now God is revealing that beyond a shadow of a doubt, you will be arrested.
That would be like getting a letter from Robert Mugabe that he will be waiting at the airport to arrest all Texans who try to enter Zimbabwe.
This is a certainty now.
So what do you do Paul?
I can tell you what his friends did.
(12) “When we had heard this, we as well as the local residents began begging him not to go up to Jerusalem.”
None of his friends wanted him to go.
“Let someone else take the money…”
“Please don’t go Paul…”
“You can accomplish so much more here not in jail…”
Here you are at the commissioning service
And your loved ones are begging you not to go.
That is what Paul is facing.
Not much different than Peter’s advice to Jesus:
Matthew 16:21-22 “From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.”
That is what they are doing to Paul.
WHAT DO YOU DO?
Here is what Paul did:
(13-14) “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.” And since he would not be persuaded, we fell silent, remarking, “The will of the Lord be done!”
Paul said, “Why in the world would you try to persuade me not to obey Jesus?”
You are breaking my heart.
I’m ready to die for Jesus
Obviously they kept arguing with him, for Luke says, “since he would not be persuaded…”
They tried, but Paul was convicted.
Paul had a passion.
He was going to run his race.
That is commitment isn’t it?
That is someone determined to fulfill his calling.
And I look at my life and how easily I am frightened,
Or discouraged, or persuaded.
Not Paul, he had tunnel vision.
And friends, that is the type of thing that Jesus requests of us.
I don’t know what the race before you looks like,
And you don’t know what the race before me looks like.
Some of the things we walk through will be the same,
And some things we walk through will be unique to our own track.
But we must run it none the less.
We must run it like the heroes before us, who also ran their race.
Hebrews 12:1-2 “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
And I remind you again that Paul’s faithfulness greatly paid off.
2 Timothy 4:6-8 “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”
That is the calling.
• Accept the Reminder that suffering is possible
• Embrace the Reality when suffering is promised
• Deny the Request when retreat is requested
• Finish the race
• Complete the course
• And take the crown that Jesus has to offer
That is what Paul did
