Acts 21:20-26\u00a0<\/b>–\u00a0When they heard this, they praised God. Then they said to Paul: \u201cYou see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous\u00a0for the law.\u00a021\u00a0They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses,\u00a0telling them not to circumcise their children\u00a0or live according to our customs.\u00a022\u00a0What shall we do? They will certainly hear that you have come,\u00a023\u00a0so do what we tell you. There are four men with us who have made a vow.\u00a024\u00a0Take these men, join in their purification rites\u00a0and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads shaved.\u00a0Then everyone will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law.\u00a025\u00a0As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality.\u201d\u00a0 26\u00a0The next day Paul took the men and purified himself along with them. Then he went to the temple to give notice of the date when the days of purification would end and the offering would be made for each of them.<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201c<\/span>They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses,\u00a0telling them not to circumcise their children\u00a0or live according to our customs.\u00a022\u00a0What shall we do? They will certainly hear that you have come.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0 The converts at Jerusalem did well to honor the Old Testament scriptures.\u00a0 It was good to know them, to know the feasts, the holy days, and the wisdom of them.\u00a0 However The Law was good to lead us to Jesus, but it could not save the soul of anyone.\u00a0 Only Jesus can save souls.\u00a0 Unfortunately these born again Jews who were zealous for The Law seemed light in love and grace.\u00a0 Why didn\u2019t they refuse to believe, in spite of any testimony contrariwise, that Paul was not teaching, in general, to turn from The Law, but to turn from thinking of The Law as providing salvation?\u00a0 It would be wise to not be convinced of Paul\u2019s supposed error before they could confirm it (Proverbs 18:17<\/b>). \u00a0It seems that love was lacking here, after all, love always trusts (1 Corinthians 13:7<\/b>).\u00a0 Also, from the same verse, we know that love always protects, why didn\u2019t they protect the Apostle Paul?\u00a0 Though Paul was not one of the original twelve he was no less an Apostle.\u00a0 Which raises the question, since the leaders at Jerusalem obviously knew that the converts were angry at Paul, why didn\u2019t they stand up for Paul and dissuade the anger of the converts?\u00a0 In reality, Paul had said words that a meaning other than how they were being portrayed in Jerusalem.\u00a0 It is reminiscent of how Jesus was accused (Mark 14:48, John 2:19<\/b>).\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0Now the leaders at Jerusalem were concerned for Paul, not from non-believers, but from the believers!\u00a0 How is that possible?\u00a0 Yet, in our days, are we so free from animosity among believers.\u00a0\u00a0 It is a shame that a well know pastor, or pastors, would publicly dispute and condemn other pastors who believe differently from them about non-essentials, and drag the name of Jesus through the mud for the world to see.\u00a0 In fact, for the purpose of having the world see.\u00a0 What a disgrace!\u00a0 Have such pastors who condemn forgotten that we shall be known by our love and unity? (John 13:34-35, Ephesians 4:3, 13<\/b>)\u00a0 Here, it is shameful that the shepherds are worried what their sheep may do.<\/p>\n \u201cSo do what we tell you. There are four men with us who have made a vow.\u00a024\u00a0Take these men, join in their purification rites\u00a0and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads shaved.\u00a0Then everyone will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law.<\/i>\u201d \u00a0So the leaders from Jerusalem have Paul support four men in their purification rites.\u00a0 Why, didn\u2019t the leaders have enough influence, enough standing with the believers there to come against this hostile (?) stand against Paul?\u00a0 Why must Paul do that to be accepted?\u00a0 The Jerusalem leaders wanted the Paul to make a show for living in obedience to The Law.\u00a0 Is that what they were doing?\u00a0 It is a shame for any pastor to yield to support of ignorant congregants and even more a shame to ask a visiting to also submit to this charade.\u00a0 Why not just teach the immature the better way!<\/p>\n Paul was being asked to financially support these four men since the cost of this rite, with all the sacrifices, was costly.\u00a0 Paul was to use the money he brought from the Gentile churches to pay for it.\u00a0 We must realize that Paul did not compromise himself.\u00a0\u00a0 He was not supporting believing in The Law for salvation but was supporting the traditions and the culture from which they all came.\u00a0 It did give him a commonality with those believers.<\/p>\n \u201cAs for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0 They are asking Paul to appease the converts in Jerusalem and they are letting them him know that they have continued to only ask of the Gentile believers what had previously been agreed upon (Acts 15:20, 29<\/b>).<\/p>\n \u201cThe next day Paul took the men and purified himself along with them. Then he went to the temple to give notice of the date when the days of purification would end and the offering would be made for each of them.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0 Paul did as he was asked to do.\u00a0 It was to keep the peace without compromising himself.\u00a0 Surely Paul was blessed to do so as he helped these young men do what he himself had also done as he grew up.\u00a0 However, as we shall see, non-believing Jews were not satisfied and soon would be looking to spill Paul\u2019s blood.<\/p>\n Those who are weak in the Word must accept the Word for what it states.\u00a0 It should not be asked that leaders bend to the world, but that the world adapt itself to the truth.\u00a0 It begins in the community in the humble hearts and minds of the individuals.\u00a0\u00a0 May we be quick to receive the Word and the Truth and to reject the error that world continually and constantly brings.\u00a0 Let us stand strong in the Word and in doing so bring praise to God (Ephesians 6:10<\/b>).\u00a0 Praise God!<\/p>\n Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/i><\/p>\n Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God<\/i>.<\/p>\n Numbers 6:24-26<\/b>\u00a0\u201cThe\u00a0Lord\u00a0bless you and keep you; 25\u00a0the\u00a0Lord\u00a0make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26\u00a0the\u00a0Lord\u00a0turn His face\u00a0toward you and give you peace.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Acts 21:20-26\u00a0–\u00a0When they heard this, they praised God. Then they said to Paul: \u201cYou see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous\u00a0for the law.\u00a021\u00a0They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses,\u00a0telling them not to circumcise their…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[82,129,1841,100,93,94,1874,88,17],"class_list":["post-2009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-acts","tag-corinthians","tag-ephesians","tag-john","tag-mark","tag-micah","tag-numbers","tag-proverbs","tag-psalm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2009"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2009\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2010,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2009\/revisions\/2010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}