ACTS CHAPTER 21:15-29, “Separating Spiritual From Cultural

Jim Bomkamp

1. INTRO:

1.1. In our last study, we saw Paul traveling from Miletus and making his way by sea south through the Mediterranean towards Palestine

1.1.1. Paul finally ended up landing in Tyre in northern Palestine, and there he looked up the church

1.1.1.1.As Paul met with the church, he explained to them that he was heading towards Jerusalem and that he would be persecuted and that he knew that he would never see them again

1.1.1.2.The brethren there at Tyre began to tell him through the Spirit that he should not go to Jerusalem

1.1.1.2.1.We looked at whether Paul was outside of God’s will in going to Jerusalem since these brethren were telling him through the Spirit not to go, and we saw that from what we know of Paul and from what God had already told him of His plans for him, that it must have been the case that what God was doing through these brethren was again leading Paul to that place to where he must count the cost of what it would involve in being Christ’s disciple and following Him

1.1.1.2.1.1.Had not Paul again counted the cost of his obedience and following Christ he might have failed the severe testing that was to befall him

1.1.1.2.1.2.God had great plans for Paul, for Paul would now go and share the gospel with the highest rulers of the land, even Caesar himself, however he would go as the prisoner of the Lord

1.1.1.2.1.2.1.I believe also that Paul’s most fruitful ministry was actually performed while he was in prison writing his prison epistles, and had he not been willing to go to Jerusalem he would not have been arrested and thus stayed in one place long enough to write those letters

1.1.1.3.When Paul got to Caesarea we saw that Agabus, a bonified prophet in the early church, told him that he would be bound when he went to Jerusalem

1.1.1.3.1.We saw that the brethren, including even Paul’s own traveling companions were begging and pleading with him not to go to Jerusalem because he would be persecuted, however Paul was not a man to be persuaded by human emotion or ‘human sympathy’, for his only goal was to finish the course that the Lord had laid out for him

1.1.1.3.1.1.We saw that we Christians must be careful not to react out of ‘human sympathy’ for others, including our own children, for then we might hinder them from fulfilling God’s calling in their lives

1.1.1.3.1.2.As Christians, one of the things that we must learn to work through is gaining discernment as to when others are seeking to lead us through ‘human sympathy’ or human motives of any kind. We must learn to discern the voice of God as He leads us

1.2. In our study today, we are going to look at the events that occured when Paul got to Jerusalem

1.2.1. Paul first meets with the church leaders, and they tell him that many of the brethren in the church are very zealous for the law and that these brethren would have a problem with Paul for they have heard of him that wherever he goes in the world and preaches he does not follow the Law of Moses any longer

1.2.2. The church leaders then council Paul to go with four men and complete a Nazarite vow with them so that the people will think that Paul really keeps the Law as a Jew

1.2.3. This plan fails when some Jews from Asia recognize him as the man who was teaching Jews and Gentiles that they did not need to keep the Law anymore for Christ had set aside the Old Covenant, and then this group incites a mob of Jews which begin to beat Paul

1.2.4. Paul is saved through the intervention of a Roman commander

1.2.5. Luke chose to go into quite a bit of detail in describing to us this incident of Paul’s arrival in Jerusalem and of the things that occurred at that time, and I think that above all what he was trying to convey in recounting this was the friction and difficulty getting along that occurred at this time between those who were saved of the Gentiles and of the Jews

1.2.5.1.The two groups were on such a collision course at this point in time that I believe that it is only because of the miraculous intervention of God that today there are not two distinct religions of those who believe in Jesus as the Messiah. This would have had a devastating effect upon history had a total split occurred in the church

1.2.5.2.What we are going to look at primarily in this message today is how that we Christians must learn to distinguish and separate the spiritual from the cultural aspects of things in our lives

2. VS 21:15-16 - “15 And after these days we got ready and started on our way up to Jerusalem. 16 And some of the disciples from Caesarea also came with us, taking us to Mnason of Cyprus, a disciple of long standing with whom we were to lodge.” - Paul and his company headed from Caesarea to Jerusalem

2.1. Paul and his traveling companions began their journey to Jerusalem from Caesarea. As they headed toward Jerusalem, some of the disciples in Caesarea escorted Paul and his companions to the house of a special man of God of many years, named Mnason. There evidently was a great deal of respect by the church in this area for this man who had lived faithful to the Lord for all these many years, thus they sought to honor him by bringing Paul and his traveling companions to meet him and to stay at his home.

2.1.1. We Christians ought to have great respect for those who have walked faithfully with the Lord for many years.

3. VS 21:17-18 - “17 And when we had come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly. 18 And now the following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present.” - In Jerusalem, Paul and his traveling companions were well received by the church

3.1. The very next day after arriving in Jerusalem, Paul and his companions met with James, the half-brother of the Lord and pastor of the church in Jerusalem, along with the elders of the church in Jerusalem.

3.1.1. It is believed that James probably did not believe in Christ until after Christ raised from the dead when according to 1 Cor. 15, Jesus appeared to him in His resurrected form.

3.1.1.1.After this time, it appears that rather rapidly that James came to be considered as one of the prime leaders in the church in Jerusalem, and we have already seen in Acts 15 with the council that met in Jerusalem, it was very clear that James was the unquestioned leader of the church in Jerusalem.

3.1.2. James was very much a Jew in every respect, and the book which he wrote is one of the earliest books in the New Testament, and it is extremely Jewish in nature.

3.1.3. James was called, ‘James the Just’, and he was respected by all Jews, Christian and non-Christian. Tradition has held that years later he was confronted by the Pharisees and forced to deny Christ or be pushed off of the pinnacle of the temple, and refusing to deny Christ, they pushed him off. However, he didn’t die upon impact and thus as he was laying on the ground they crushed his skull with a Fuller’s Paddle (similar to a squash paddle).

3.1.4. James was a man who spent so many hours daily upon his knees in the temple praying for the nation to turn to Christ, that they said that his knees looked like camel’s knees.

3.2. It is important to note that none of the twelve apostles are mentioned in this account of the trip to Jerusalem. This is probably the case because they were now dispersed all over the known world, finally accomplishing what the Lord had called them to do in planting churches.

3.3. It is incredible at first for us to notice that throughout all of these years since the church had been formed, and in spite of all that the gospel had accomplished among the Gentiles, that the people in the church in Jerusalem were being taught to follow the Old Testament Law as a Jew. The church in Jerusalem had never really left Judaism, they had simply added faith in Christ to their observance of the law of Moses.

3.3.1. The church in Jerusalem saw God as blessing the nations only through the Jewish nation, and not apart from it.

3.3.2. They had taught Gentile converts to be circumcised and to begin to observe the law of Moses.

3.3.2.1.They had continued these practices in the church in Jerusalem in spite of the fact that the council of apostles in Jerusalem had ruled that the Gentiles did not need to observe the law of Moses in order to be saved. It was faith in Christ alone that was necessary for salvation they rightly concurred.

3.3.3. These practices had continued in spite of the fact that the church leaders had surely by this time read Paul’s letter to the Galatians, which we believe he had penned by now. In this letter Paul blasted those who thought that they could earn God’s love through works.

3.3.4. I do not think that the church leaders in Jerusalem taught the people that they had to observe the law of Moses in order to be saved. They may have simply shrank back from declaring the real truth about justification to the people apart from keeping the Law of Moses, taking a neutral position towards it for expedience sake (i.e. to win the more to Christ...).

3.3.5. With the church’s emphasis on the Law of Moses, there were multitudes in the Jerusalem church at this time who were depending upon the works of the law for their justification before God.

3.4. We today probably cannot grasp the idea of how difficult it must have been for the Jerusalem church to overthrow the entire culture and mentality of the people in law-keeping, from which the Jewish nation was built.

3.5. As I have done some traveling to different countries, I have observed that Christianity takes on different flavors in each culture in which it is reproduced. In each of the different cultures into which Christianity goes, there is a tendency to wrap their particular culture into their Christianity and to believe that things which are really just cultural are essential for true spirituality, or even salvation itself in some cases.

3.5.1. When I went to Japan several years ago, for instance, I learned that their culture has some very interesting carryovers into their church life. Whenever you enter a house in Japan you check your shoes at the front door and put on a pair of the inexpensive house slippers. However, if you go to the bathroom in the house, you check your house slippers by the bathroom and put on the ‘bathroom’ slippers which are labeled as bathroom slippers and are usually some bright color like pink. In the churches in Japan you check your shoes at the front door and put on some house slippers to go into the church, however if you go up on the altar in the church you must take off your house slippers and go up in your socks for it is a holy place and house slippers are not at all appropriate to wear there.

3.5.1.1.The year before I went to Japan, at our church we had sent a worship band over to tour around and do worship services at various churches through the main island of Japan. At one of the churches, the guys in the band were at the side of the stage with the curtain open, before the service began. They were praying as the people were filling into the church. The bass player had to go to the bathroom, so he left the group and went back to the church’s bathroom, and of course before he went into the bathroom he put on a pair of the ‘bathroom’ slippers. However, when he left the restroom he forgot to take off his ‘bathroom’ slippers and came back to the group which was praying at the side of the stage. Then, just when they had ended their prayer and the band was getting ready to stand up, walk to the front of the stage, and begin the worship service, the worship leader in the band noticed that the bass player had the ‘bathroom’ slippers on his feet. Suddenly, there was total panic and terror in the hearts of the whole worship team until the bass player had walked back to the bathroom and returned with just his socks on. The way the Japanese people treated the altar and the proper dress upon the altar, the band felt like they were going to be kicked out the church right at that moment, just as if they had done the most heinous act that a person could ever do.

3.5.2. If you visited a committed family’s house in Italy they would probably pour you a glass of wine with dinner. In Germany, you might be poured a beer with dinner.

3.5.3. I came to Christ in January of 1973 as one of the drug-taking hippie generation, and I had the long hair and wore the hippie clothes. At that time, in every at church I’d ever been aware of, the men wore a suit and tie and the women dressed in very formal dresses that went to the ankles. For any of the leg on the women to show was considered a disgrace. Many of the churches didn’t want any of us converted hippies to go to their churches because it would ruin their reputations, and then most of the churches that did allow us to come put a lot of pressure on us to cut our hair, quit listening to any rock music at all, and to wear formal clothes to church. If we did all that, they would perhaps consider us to be legitimate Christians.

3.5.3.1.In my home town, this was the way all of the churches were when I came to Christ, and as a result I didn’t even go to a church for almost a year and a half after committing my life to Christ. As I looked at the external appearances of the people that went to the churches, I just couldn’t relate to them at all. In fact, I felt sort of looked down upon as a believer by all of the churches just because of my external appearance. I finally did start going to a denominational church after being invited by a friend and the church welcomed me and encouraged me to be a part of their fellowship, however they did put pressure on me telling me that if I was really spiritual I would cut my hair, burn all of my rock and roll albums, sell my electric guitars and amps, and fit into their church culture. I even had to be re-baptized by their denomination in order to become a member of the church. I went along with their rules, and to be honest I actually am glad that I did so because that church was really my only hope of getting out of a lifestyle that had almost destroyed me. However, it would have been better for them to just let God work on my heart, work from the inside out, instead of lay this thing on me about what being really spiritual consisted of.

3.5.4. The first Calvary Chapel began in 1965 when Chuck and Kay Smith began to minister to the hippies down on the beaches in southern California, and they just loved these kids and allowed them to come into the church as they were. Many carried their surf boards right to the church and entered the sanctuary in their swimming suits. Because there was not this cultural pressure to conform to a bunch of external standards and they just taught God’s Word and allowed God to change the hearts of the kids and work from the inside out in their lives, the church exploded in size in a short period of time, and really at that time there resulted an entire movement all across the country within the ‘Jesus People’ kids of that era. Many of the kids from that generation ended up going from using the drugs, etc. to being what they called then ‘Jesus Freaks’.

3.6. These Jews held onto their legalism along with their relationship with Christ, and legalism is about rule keeping and keeping a big list of ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts’, and they felt like the only way that they could quantify their relationship with God was by keeping their lists. Pastor Ken Ortiz has said that the reason that there are legalists is that people want God to be predictable.

3.6.1. It is usually the case it seems with new Christians that they go through a period where they tend to get legalistic. However, God has a way of placing us in situations where He becomes unpredictable and where also we end up failing over and over again to keep the high standards and rule lists that we make for ourselves. Finally, we find ourselves discovering yet again the grace of God for us as we end up falling prostrate before Him as we recognize our own inability in our strength to be holy. Then, we quit trying to impose legalistic standards upon ourselves and others.

3.7. We in the church today need to learn from these Jewish and Gentile Christians, and be willing to accept other believers into fellowship with us, even if they happen to believe a little bit different than we do about some insignificant issues.

3.7.1. We need to recognize that the Lord can work through a Christian group that believes and practices many things much different than we do, and we ought to have tremendous respect for that work which God is doing through these other churches.

3.7.1.1.God used this church in Jerusalem in spite of the fact that they were either off somewhat doctrinally concerning justification by faith alone, or they were seeking a compromise position of neutrality concerning the importance of keeping the Mosaic Law in a Christian’s life.

3.7.2. We need to also recognize that there are going to be people within our own fellowship who will perhaps believe some things a little bit differently than we do, or who measure spirituality a little bit differently than perhaps we do. But, as long as we can agree on the essential things in Christianity we can have fellowship with them as brothers and sisters in Christ.

3.7.3. We must never have a divisive or back-biting attitude towards people from these diverse denominational backgrounds.

4. VS 21:19-21 - “19 And after he had greeted them, he began to relate one by one the things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. 20 And when they heard it they began glorifying God; and they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all zealous for the Law; 21 and they have been told about you, that you are teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs.” - Paul tells the church council about the great things that God was doing amongst the Gentiles with the churches that had been planted

4.1. Paul was wise in immediately beginning to tell James and the elders what great things the Lord had done through his ministry to the Gentiles. Upon hearing of these things, they ‘praised God’. The testimony of how God had worked among the Gentiles provided the light that was beginning to dawn in the lives of these elders in Jerusalem concerning all people being one in Christ and justification by faith alone.

4.2. James related to Paul and his companions how that they had ‘many thousand’ Jewish Christians in the church, all of which were ‘zealous for the law’.

4.2.1. James told them that this multitude of Jewish Christians had heard that Paul taught ‘all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs’.

4.2.2. What James told Paul about what the people believed that Paul had been doing was true for the most part, however Paul emphasized to the Jewish believers primarily that observance of Jewish customs was OK as long as a person did not seek to carry out the law in order to be justified before God.

4.3. There is an interesting incidence related by Paul in the book of Galatians, Gal. 2:11-14, where Paul confronted Peter about his hypocrisy in avoiding eating with the Gentiles in Antioch after some Jews from Jerusalem had shown up in Antioch. Before that, Peter had eaten with them all of the time.

4.3.1. Peter was rebuked for his hypocrisy, since he was trying to act to these Jewish believers as if he was truly living according to the letter of the Mosaic Law, when in fact he had not been doing so.

4.3.2. The worst part of the incident is the fact that it points out the hatred and prejudice that the Jews had for the Gentiles, in spite of the fact that these ones in Antioch had become Christians.

4.3.3. These cultural barriers between Jew and Gentile took centuries to bring down in reality, and in fact we see sometimes that even today they are still alive. Due to these deep-seated prejudices between Jew and Gentile, it is amazing today that there is not a Jewish Christianity and a Gentile Christianity.

4.4. Paul had previously come to Jerusalem to bring a great gift from the Gentile churches to the church in Jerusalem because of the great poverty they were experiencing. However, the church did not seem to be grateful at all to Paul or the churches for this gift.

4.5. Paul not only wanted to win the lost to Christ, but he also had the burden everywhere he went to share the mystery of the gospel, that all men and women are one in Christ, as he wrote in Eph. 3:4-6, “And by referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; 6 to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.”

4.6. We Christians of all eras must be careful not to seek to force our opinions about things which are not essential in importance upon others who do not share them. As we see how these Jewish and Gentile Christians were able to accept each other, we need to be careful also not to seek to force our own cultural traditions which are not essential to Christianity upon those Christians of different cultures and persuasions.

4.6.1. It used to be the case that everywhere American missionaries went they not only taught the people about the Bible and Christ, they also enforced their culture upon the people. This greatly hindered reaching the world for Christ. In the last thirty years mission boards have begun to realize the importance of not imposing American culture on people all over the world.

4.6.2. It was OK that these Jewish brethren practiced certain Jewish rites, however since these things were not essential for Christian living, these brethren should not have sought to force upon everyone else their own convictions about these things. People often do force upon others their own convictions though.

4.6.2.1.For instance, I know of a Christian couple who believe that because of the temptations to immoral thoughts in men, women should dress so modestly that virtually none of their skin below the neck or above the ankles is ever seen.

4.6.2.1.1.This conviction is fine for them, however they have erred by trying to force all Christian women to dress in the same manner.

4.6.2.1.2.If the Bible does not specifically forbid an action as sinful, then we as Christians may have our own convictions, however we should not seek to force these convictions upon everyone else.

4.6.2.2.Another example would be the churches that refuse to fellowship with other Christian churches who worship God with a different style of music than they choose to worship God.

4.7. VS 21:22-26 - “22 “What, then, is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. 23 “Therefore do this that we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow; 24 take them and purify yourself along with them, and pay their expenses in order that they may shave their heads; and all will know that there is nothing to the things which they have been told about you, but that you yourself also walk orderly, keeping the Law. 25 “But concerning the Gentiles who have believed, we wrote, having decided that they should abstain from meat sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication.” 26 Then Paul took the men, and the next day, purifying himself along with them, went into the temple, giving notice of the completion of the days of purification, until the sacrifice was offered for each one of them.” - The leaders of the church in Jerusalem council Paul to avoid offending the brethren zealous for keeping the law by taking four brethren who were under a vow, and go with them, purify himself along them, pay their expenses, and then shave their heads

4.7.1. James and the elders in Jerusalem proposed a solution that would create peace between Paul and the many Jewish believers in Jerusalem. They proposed that Paul take some men who were completing a Nazarite vow, pay for their expenses in the temple, and join them in their completion ceremony.

4.7.1.1.When a Jew would take on a Nazarite Vow, it was so that he could demonstrate a particularly great amount of devotion to the Lord through this vow. The Law of Moses prescribed requirements for one who took on a Nazarite Vow, and these included not cutting their hair, letting their side burns grow without being cut, certain dietary requirements, and not drinking alcohol at all. Then, when a person wanted to go off of the vow the Law also prescribed a large number of sacrifices that the person had to complete to end it. These sacrifices were very expensive and thus some people were not able to end their vow. Some people however would demonstrate their devotion to the Lord by paying the cost for all of the animals that would be sacrificed in order that someone could complete his Nazarite Vow. Well, the church in Jerusalem decided that what Paul should do to show to the people that in fact he didn’t teach people to put aside the Law of Moses was that he should pay for four men who were under a Nazarite Vow to be able to complete this vow. They hoped that this would keep the people from rejecting Paul as a brother in Christ.

4.7.2. The reason for Paul doing what the leaders counseled him is given in these verses as, ‘all will know that there is nothing to the things which they have been told about you, but that you yourself also walk orderly, keeping the Law’.

4.7.2.1.However, the apostle Paul did not keep the letter of the Old Testament law, therefore they were asking him to be hypocritical and make an appearance that he was living as a Jew under the law, when in effect he was not.

4.8. The question that we have to ask is first of all whether or not he was compromising his faith in taking the leaders council here? And secondly, was the Lord leading him to do this?

4.8.1. To the first question, I think that Paul was compromising his faith, however he was doing so out of love and thus for the purpose of expediency, that he might “be all things to all men and thereby win the more”.

4.8.2. My answer to the second question is that Paul was doing what God wanted him to do in this situation, as he was trying to doing something which would keep his brothers in Christ from stumbling. In love He was trying to limit his own freedom in order to not offend these brothers who were legalistic.

4.9. The end result of Paul’s action was that the solution proposed by James and the elders in Jerusalem failed since a big mob formed after some Jews who were from Asia recognized Paul as the man who was going all over the world and teaching that people could be justified before God just upon their faith in Christ, plus nothing. This led then to Paul’s being arrested.

4.10. We must remember that the Lord worked through Paul’s life from this point on, regardless of the fact that their plan failed miserably. It was all part of God’s plan for Paul.

4.11. Jesus was a man who was known for hanging around sinners and tax gatherers. He went to their houses and ate with them, and he reached out in love and compassion to them. As a result, many of them came to believe in Him. However, He did so without ever compromising a principle.

4.11.1.We Christians must come to that place where we are “living in this world” (i.e. not separating ourselves from sinners), however “not of the world” (i.e. not living in the sinful lifestyle that those in the world are living in).

5. VS 21:27-29 - “27 And when the seven days were almost over, the Jews from Asia, upon seeing him in the temple, began to stir up all the multitude and laid hands on him, 28 crying out, “Men of Israel, come to our aid! This is the man who preaches to all men everywhere against our people, and the Law, and this place; and besides he has even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.” 29 For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple.” - Some Jews from Asia saw Paul in the temple and begin to stir up the multitude to lay hands on him

5.1. The plan of James and the elders seemed to almost succeed, however some Jews from Asia who were aware of Paul’s missionary work alerted the multitude in the temple that this Paul ‘preaches to all men everywhere against our people, and the Law, and this place’.

5.2. Next week we will look at what occurred after this plan by James and the elders failed.

5.2.1. We will observe the incredible strength that Paul had in Christ.

6. CONCLUSION:

6.1. There are tremendous needs in our world today, and there are many people who have tremendous emotional pain in their lives. We Christians should stop worrying about so many trivial and petty issues such as who is living up to our own legalistic standards we have set. People need us to point them to the love of Jesus, for people need Jesus in their lives. We need to have the love of God so work through our lives that we aren’t concerned about what others are doing so much but rather how we might reach out to others with the love of God.

6.1.1. In His book, ‘The Tender Touch of God”, Mike Macintosh tells a story that I believe demonstrates what real Christianity ought to be mostly concerned with. It’s the story of Teddy Stollard, “Teddy Stollard was disinterested in school. His clothes were wrinkled, and his hair was always messed up. Teddy always wore a deadpan expression, a glassy-eyed countenance, an unfocused stare. He was unattractive, unmotivated, and uncommunicative. When his teacher, Miss Thompson, spoke to him, Teddy always answered in monosyllables. He was just plain hard to like. Even though his teacher said she loved everyone in her class equally, deep down inside she knew she wasn’t being completely truthful. Whenever she marked Teddy’s papers, she got a certain pleasure out of putting X’s next to the wrong answers; and when she put the F’s at the top of his papers, she always did it with a flare. She should have known better. She had Teddy’s records, and she knew more about him than she wanted to admit. The records read: First grade: Teddy shows promise with his work and attitude, but poor home situation. Second grade: Teddy could do better. Mother is seriously ill. He receives little help at home. Third grade: Teddy is a good boy but too serious. He is a slow learner. His mother died this year. Fourth grade: Teddy is very slow, but well-behaved. His father shows no interest. Christmas came, and the boys and girls in Miss Thompson’s class brought her Christmas presents. They piled their presents on her desk and crowded around to watch her open them. Among the presents was gift from Teddy Stoddard. Miss Thompson was surprised that he had bought her a gift, but he had. Teddy’s gift was wrapped in brown paper and was held together with Scotch tape. On the paper were written the simple words, “For Miss Thompson from Teddy”. When she opened Teddy’s present, out fell a gaudy rhinestone bracelet (with half the stones missing) and a bottle of cheap perfume. The other boys and girls began to giggle and smirk over Teddy’s gifts, but Miss Thompson at least had enough sense to silence them by immediately putting on the bracelet and dabbing some of the perfume on her wrist. Holding her wrist up for the other children to smell, she said, “Doesn’t it smell lovely?” And the children, taking their cue from the teacher, readily agreed with, “Ooh’s” and “Ah’s.” At the end of the day, when school was over and the other children had left, Teddy lingered behind. He slowly came over to his teacher’s desk and said softly, “Miss Thompson…Miss Thompson, you smell just like my mother…and her bracelet looks real pretty on you too. I’m glad you liked my presents.” When Teddy left, Miss Thompson got down on her knees and asked God to forgive her. The next day when the children came to school, they were welcomed by a new teacher. Miss Thompson had become a different person. She was no longer just a teacher, she had become an agent of God. She was now a person committed to loving her children and doing things for them that would live on after her. She helped all the children, but especially Teddy Stallard. By the end of that school year, Teddy showed dramatic improvement. He had caught up with most of the students and was even ahead of some. She didn’t hear from Teddy for a long time. Then one day she receive a note that read: Dear Miss Thompson: I wanted you to be the first to know. I will be graduating second in my class. Love, Teddy Stollard. Four years later, another note came: Dear Miss Thompson, they told me I will be graduating first in my class. I wanted you to be the first to know. The university has not been easy, but I liked it. Love, Teddy Stollard. And four years later another note: Dear Miss Thompson: As of today, I am Theodore Stollard, M.D. How about that? I wanted you to be the first to know. I am getting married next month, the 27^th to be exact. I want you to come and sit where my mother would sit if she were alive. You are the only family I have now; Dad died last year. Love, Teddy Stollard. Miss Thompson went to that wedding, and she sat where Teddy’s mother would have sat. That story almost says it all, don’t you think? Without friends, the Teddy Stollards of this world would get left behind.”

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