Paul's Arrest, Part 1
Acts 21:17-26
It's good to be back in our series in the Book of Acts this morning, and I would draw your attention to the 21st chapter of Acts. And we continue in this marvelous narrative regarding the ministry of the Apostle Paul, as he continues the last little leg of his journey toward the City of Jerusalem. This is the conclusion of the third of Paul's missionary tours, tours in which he not only preached the Gospel and established the Church, but in which he nurtured the Church. And on this particular third tour, he collected money from the Gentile congregations to give to the poor saints at Jerusalem as a token of love, and as a gesture of unity.
So as he moves toward Jerusalem, he is loaded with money, as well as a wonderful report of what God has done, and he has with him a group of Gentile converts that have been won to Christ, and who are representatives of the love of each of the Gentile congregations.
And so with this little group of men, and bags of money, he is moving toward Jerusalem. And as we approach the narrative as we have tried to do in each of our studies of narrative passages, we want to see beyond just the historical fact, to the principles and the qualities and the spiritual truths that underlie what we see on the surface. And I suppose that as we had gone along with the Apostle Paul, he has so dominated every passage that we have been prone to see in these passages characteristics of him, and again, no different in this passage.
As I was reading through earlier in the week and finally discovered exactly what we would extract from the passage, I was just overwhelmed with one great spiritual quality that just oozes out of the passages, and it is the quality of humility. We talked about Paul's great power in preaching. We talked about his teaching. We talked about his persistence. We've talked about his discipline. We've talked about his courage. We've talked about his commitment. We talked about his convictions. We talked about so many qualities that made the man what he was. But here, there is one that cannot be ranked second to any other, and that is the quality of humility.
And so in looking at the passage, I was more prone to call it the measure of the man than I was to say this is the arrest of Paul. It is the arrest of Paul, but it is the measure of the man who is seen in the midst of the circumstance that interests me. And that becomes applicable to my life. I may never get arrested. I may never have to do what he did, but I need to learn the lessons of humility that he exemplified, and so that's how it speaks to me.
Now the object for which Paul had so long been concerned, the course which he had faithfully pursued now for months and months and months, the goal which really consumed his heart and his mind; that thing which had been his ambition over the long and arduous miles of travel by foot and by ship was now about to be realized. He was going to reach Jerusalem, and he was going to give the money to the poor saints, and he was going to introduce the Jews to the Gentile Christians with hopes of unifying the Church visibly in the world.
He must be kind of like the marathon runner who has run over the obstacles and through the obstacles, and across the terrain, and he has met every obstacle the course could possibly bring. And finally, he comes over a little hill, and he looks out into the valley and he sees a finish line, and he knows that he's on the last leg of his journey. And in some sense, it speeds his step, though his stamina may be gone, and this is how I see Paul as the last little leg of his journey becomes visible; 64 more miles from where he is in verse 14 to arriving at his destiny in Jerusalem. And this is a destiny, which God has planned for him.
Now, as he goes toward Jerusalem, he doesn't go alone. Look at verse 15; let's pick it up there. "And after those days, that is those days in Caesarea," Caesarea being that city on the coast, and you remember Paul was there for some time living in the house of Phillip the Evangelist. "And after the fellowship of those days, we took up our carriage," it says in the old language, that's not really what it was. We think of something with wheels. It means baggage or luggage. "They packed their bags and went to Jerusalem."
Notice they went up. Everything is up to Jerusalem because Jerusalem is high on a plateau. When you've been there, you can appreciate the statement, "He went up to Jerusalem." And so they took off on a 64 or so mile journey and went to Jerusalem. And verse 16 says, "They went with us also certain of the disciples of Caesarea." And here again, you have the same custom that when those people traveled, Christian friends went along with them all the time, halfway or a part of the way, or maybe all the way, just to accompany them to show good faith, fellowship and love to them; a beautiful custom.
And so the apostle then goes toward Jerusalem. And it was worked out that the man named Nason, you see a phrase "brought with them." It really should say brought to the home of Nason. Probably Nason did not accompany them from Caesarea, but merely living in Jerusalem, they brought Paul and his friends to him.
Now, he had a Greek name. Nason is a very common name, not uncommon at all; very common. And he was from Cypress. If you have been listening to the news, you've been hearing about Cypress. Well, here's a man who was from Cypress 2000 years ago, and he was a Hellenis Jew. The word Hellenis simply means Greek or Gentile. He was a Gentile not in the sense of his race, but in the sense of his culture he was Hellenized. He was Greeked if you want to call it that in terms of his training.
So he was a Hellenistic Jew. He was raised in a Greek country. He had a Greek name. And it is probably the reason, or at least a part of the reason that they had arranged for Paul and his friends to stay there. I'm sure they didn't really understand how receptive the Jewish Christians would be to a whole pile of Gentiles staying in their house, especially the Jewish Jews who lived in Jerusalem, since they were very much oriented toward the Mosaic ceremony. And so they found a more liberal Hellenis Jew, who was willing.
Incidentally, this man, too, says an early disciple, which means he was in on the foundations of the Church. He may go back as far as Jesus. We don't know, but certainly to the beginnings of the Church. He may have been a source for Luke; the fact that Luke writes here and notes Nason as an early disciple may have been indicative of the fact that the Holy Spirit used Nason to reveal some information to Luke in helping him write the Book of Acts.
Anyway, off they go to Jerusalem to stay at the home of this particular man. Now, as we see the scene, we would assume that the apostle arrives about the feast of Pentecost. Fifty days after Passover, the feast of Pentecost took place. The apostle said in chapter 20, verse 16, that he definitely wanted to get there by Pentecost. He wanted to be there at a time when all the folks were congregated together. He felt that very important. And as well, I think he wanted to be there because he was Jewish, and because it was a celebration of Judaism, and he wanted to be a part of it. And so he was there at Pentecost.
It doesn't say it was Pentecost when he arrives. I assumed that because that was his plan, and he was really concerned with making it. And I assume it, too, because of the mass of people that were not only in the city, but in the temple. Something was going on, and it seems Pentecost would be a good explanation.
Now what occurs in the days there takes up three chapters. We're not going to be able to handle that, obviously, in one message or in one month, probably. But we'll just take it as it comes and in pieces. But note this: What you're going to see is the last of the ministry of Paul as a free man. This is it. Really from verse 27 on, Paul becomes, as he called himself in Ephesians 6:20, an ambassador in chains. From here on out, the man is a prisoner, which incidentally, it's good to note, does not minimize his ministry in any way at all. It doesn't have any affect whatsoever on the accomplishment of his objectives. They just changed, and he goes on doing what he always did, whether he was free or a prisoner. He just continued to fulfill his ministry. But it is interesting to note that his days as a free man are up, and from here on he's a prisoner in various places.
Now, as we look at the passage beginning from verse 17 on, and concluding in verse 36, we'll take that as a unit or maybe we won't get - no, we won't get that far, I'm sure. But taking that section as a unit, there are four C's that appear, and I only want to relate three of them today, and just touch on the fourth: Communion, concern, compromise and consequence. Those just are titles or hooks to hang sections on so you can help to break the passage down in your mind and get some sequence to it.
First of all, we find communion occurs as he arrives. And by the word communion, I don't mean they all sat down at the Lord 's Table. The word means fellowship or sharing. The first thing that happened was there was a beautiful time of sharing with the believers when Paul arrived. I mean after all, the man was a tremendous missionary; had accomplished tremendous things. He arrives with these dear Gentile saints, and he arrives with this money, and it's a great time of sharing and rejoicing. In versus 17-28, we have that noted for us.
Notice 17 to begin, "And when we were come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us," and in what way? Gladly; it was a happy reception. You say, "Why?"&nb