ACTS CHAPTER 21:27-40, “Trusting Christ In The Midst Of Chaos”

Jim Bomkamp

1. INTRO

1.1. In our last study, we observed the events that occurred during the third missionary journey of the book of Acts when the apostle Paul traveled with his companions to Jerusalem

1.1.1. We saw that James, the pastor of the church in Jerusalem, along with the elders in the church greeted him and his companions warmly and agreed to meet with them the next day after their arrival

1.1.2. At the meeting the next day, they informed Paul that there in the church they had thousands of Jews who had come to Christ, however they were all zealous for keeping the Law of Moses as a Jew, and that the people would have a problem having Paul there with them because they had heard about him that wherever he preached the gospel throughout the world that he taught people to forsake the Law of Moses

1.1.3. James and the brethren then came up with a plan to try to avoid a major blowup in the church. They came up with a scheme that was designed to show the people that they were actually wrong about Paul, for in reality he really did keep the letter of the Law of Moses as a Jew (which was not really true)

1.1.3.1.They counseled Paul to go through a Jewish purification with a priest and then accompany some brothers into the temple who were currently keeping a ‘Nazarite Vow’ (which meant that they didn’t cut their hair or side burns, had certain dietary restrictions, and drank no alcohol), and pay the cost for all of their sacrifices as prescribed in the Law so that they could end their vow. Going to this great expense for these brothers would show Paul’s real devotion to Jehovah and that he did in fact keep the Law of Moses

1.1.3.2.The plan failed however when some Jews from Asia recognized Paul in the temple and aroused the multitude to seize him as they began accusing him of blasphemy and of illegally bringing Greeks into the temple (none of which he was guilty)

1.2. In our study today, we pick up at the point in the story where the mob has grabbed Paul in the temple.

1.2.1. We will see that they begin beating him and dragging him towards the ‘Court of the Gentiles’ so that they can stone him to death

1.2.2. The Roman guard at the temple hears and sees the uproar and sends soldiers which break up the riot and cause the people to quit beating Paul. Thus, they end up saving Paul’s life

1.2.3. We then see an incredible event occur in which we observe the great inner strength of Christ in Paul’s life when in the midst of this mass of chaos all around him, through the strength of Christ he takes control of the situation and uses it as an opportunity to preach the gospel to the crowd

1.2.4. The title of this message is, ‘Trusting Christ In The Midst Of Chaos’

2. 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

2.1. We saw last week that the plan of James and the elders seemed almost to 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’.

2.1.1. Further, these Jews accused Paul of bringing ‘Greeks’ into the temple and thus defiling it, which he had not done. They had seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city earlier, and they wrongly assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple.

2.2. The Romans as a culture were very much into orderliness and they sought to regulated life through strict enforcement of Roman Law. Thus, the Romans had built a tall building alongside the Northwest corner of the Jewish temple that Herod had build in Jerusalem, and they called it the ‘Fortress of Antonio’. It was higher than the temple and they designed it so that much like guard houses in American prisons they could have a place to look out over the general temple area and make sure that all things were done lawfully and that any disturbances were quashed immediately. The Fortress of Antonio could house 1,000 Roman soldiers. We might understand why the Romans had build this fortress because since the time that the Romans had taken control of Israel the Jews had already attempted a few revolts against the Romans, all of which were quashed by the Romans. The Jews resented the control of the Romans over their nation, for they thought that being God’s people that it was they who should be ruling over the nations. They hated the thought that the Romans had built a building taller than their glorious temple and right next to it.

2.2.1. It was not more than 10 to 15 years later when the Jews ended up revolting against Roman control over their land, and this led to several major battles and the eventual destruction of Jerusalem, along with the temple, in 70AD.

2.3. Herod the Great had wanted to be liked by the Jews, and as he was a very powerful king really with no one to conquer, he decided to have his legacy be huge and beautiful buildings that he would build. The greatest building that he had built was the Jewish temple, which is called the ‘Temple of Herod’, which he began construction on in 19BC, and in which he fashioned after God’s instruction concerning the building of Solomon’s Temple (which had previously been destroyed). It took 40 years to build. The whole temple mount was huge, approximately the size of 20 football fields, and it was surrounded by about 1,000 pillars which were 30’ high and 6’ in diameter. The Jewish historian of the first century, Josephus, writes, "And now Herod, in the eighteenth year of his reign, and after the acts already mentioned, undertook a very great work, that is, to build of himself the temple of God, and make it larger in compass, and to raise it to a most magnificent altitude, as esteeming it to be the most glorious of all his actions, as it really was, to bring it to perfection..."

2.4. The Jewish Temple basically consisted of two major rooms and one minor room:

2.4.1. The two major rooms:

2.4.1.1.‘The Holy Place’

2.4.1.1.1.It contained the Golden Lampstand, the Table of Showbread, and the Incense Altar.

2.4.1.1.2.The priests alone were allowed into the Holy Place, and they worked there as they performed their duties in helping the people in their sacrifices and purification rites.

2.4.1.2.The ‘Most Holy Place’ or ‘Holy Of Holies’

2.4.1.2.1.It contained the Ark Of The Covenant containing the Tablets On Which Jehovah had written the Ten Commandments, a jar containing some of the Manna that fell during Israel’s wilderness wanderings after leaving the country of Egypt, and the Rod Of Aaron.

2.4.1.2.2.This was the innermost room of the temple and it was accessible only through the ‘Holy Place’ and through two curtains that separated the two rooms.

2.4.1.2.3.The high priest was to go in this room once a year on the Day of Atonement and sprinkle blood upon the Ark Of The Covenant on behalf of the sins of the nation.

2.4.2. The one minor room:

2.4.2.1.Solomon’s Porch

2.4.2.1.1.This small room connected the courtyards to the ‘Holy Place’ as it was the only entrance into the ‘Holy Place’.

2.5. The rest of the temple consisted of courtyards which surrounded it:

2.5.1. The ‘Courtyard of the Gentiles’.

2.5.1.1.This represented the closest place that a Gentile who had not become a full blown Jewish proselyte could come.

2.5.2. The ‘Courtyard of Women’.

2.5.2.1.Inside the ‘Court of the Gentiles’, this courtyard represented the closest place that a woman could come into the temple.

2.5.3. The ‘Courtyard of Israel’ or ‘Court of Men’.

2.5.4. The ‘Courtyard of the Priests’.

2.5.4.1.This courtyard was located inside the ‘Courtyard of Israel’, and thus it is was also referred to as the ‘Inner Courtyard’.

2.5.4.2.This courtyard was also located at the front of the temple, in front of Solomon’s Porch.

2.5.4.3.The sacrifices for the sins of individuals were actually made here in this courtyard where the Brazen Altar was located.

2.5.4.4.Various purification rites were also performed here.

2.6. Paul was receiving his ceremonial purification by the priests here in the ‘Courtyard Of The Priests’ when he was spotted by the Asian Jews and then grabbed by the angry mob.

3. VS 21:30-31 - “31 And while they were seeking to kill him, a report came up to the commander of the Roman cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion. 32 And at once he took along some soldiers and centurions, and ran down to them; and when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.” - The commander of the Roman cohort heard about the commotion and came to the temple and when the multitude saw the commander they quit beating Paul

3.1. This mob was now beginning to drag Paul out of the ‘Courtyard of the Priests’ and through the various courtyards to the ‘Courtyard of the Gentiles’, where it would then be appropriate for them to stone him to death.

3.2. God used a commander and his Roman cohort (up to 400 soldiers) to save the life of Paul as he was being beaten by the angry mob.

3.2.1. We see from this detail in our account that God is really the one who is in control of circumstances, even when they seem to be completely out of control, and ‘chaos’ is the rule. God had placed this commander there at the Fortress of Antonio so that he could come and save Paul from being brutally murdered by this crowd.

3.2.2. In Paul’s being arrested here we see that Paul is now entering this last phase of his life, the one in which he from now on will be the ‘prisoner of the Lord’.

3.3. Last week I quoted Ken Ortiz during our study as saying that the ‘Legalist’ is a person who wants to make God be predictable, and that God has a way in our lives of making life to become unpredictable. Here in study today, we see that Paul had gone to Jerusalem out of obedience to God, and yet at the same time knowing from the Holy Spirit that persecution awaited him in Jerusalem and that he would never return to any of the churches which he visited. Now, when Paul has gotten to Jerusalem we see that here in the ‘Courtyard of the Priests’ as he is receiving his purification rites, life’s circumstances and God become very unpredictable for him when these Asian Jews recognize him in the temple and incense a mob to grab him and begin beating him and dragging him out towards the ‘Courtyard of the Gentiles’ so that they might kill him. So many times in our lives God places us Christians into circumstances in which we do not have control and things appear out of our control and perhaps chaotic. Perhaps you have various circumstances in your life that are out of your control, such as:

3.3.1. A boss that regularly asks and expects the impossible of you.

3.3.2. Co-workers whom you have to work with who are impossible to get along with and work together with.

3.3.3. You are married to a spouse who does not know the Lord and who asks and expects things from you that you do not feel completely comfortable with.

3.3.4. You are married to a spouse who doesn’t understand your commitment to Christ and seeks to hinder you from the doing the very things that you feel most convicted of and which bring you the most joy in life.

3.3.5. You’re raising several young children and each day is more about being able to just survive than any kind of order or planning.

3.3.6. You are in such a great extent of debt that it seems to you that there is no possible way on this earth that you could ever get out of it.

3.3.7. This past year many people have lost a fortune in the downturn of the stock market, and especially the Tech Stocks.

3.3.8. You are at the age where you are beginning to think about getting a plan for retirement and yet you know that it seems that everything is going against your being able to have a nice nest egg for retirement.

3.3.8.1.With the downturn of the stock market, many people have lost a significant portion of their 401K retirement plan money.

3.3.9. You have children that you are raising who have turned away from Christ and you know that there is nothing that you can do yourself to change their hearts and wills.

3.3.10.A health condition which you have to life with and which cannot, short of God’s miraculous intervention, be cured.

3.3.10.1.This past couple of weeks I’ve been to the chiropractor a few times for back pain that I’ve had now for about 3 months. The chiropractor gave me bad news that the condition that I have in my back now at this part of my life is a spinal degeneration that will continue to get worse the rest of my life, and for which there really is no cure. It is the result of a spinal disease that I had growing up, some injuries, part of the aging process, and being overweight and not exercising. There are things that I can do to help me deal with life having this condition, however it is out of my control to stop the degeneration process. I’m told that I will potentially have some spinal related pain the rest of my life. This is out of my control.

3.4. We Christians like the idea of living for Christ and being used by Him, however we want to do so in a very controlled environment in which nothing takes us by surprise and our trials are light and easy to bear. God has other plans for us though, for He molds us through our difficulties. Ken Ortiz has said, ‘God is more interested in our holiness than our happiness’.

3.4.1. Spurgeon has said that it is faith that see the ‘rod of discipline’ in our lives that comes through our trials as coming from the hands of a loving Father.

3.5. As I say, God has a way of placing us in a position where God is unpredictable and our life seems hopeless and out of our control. He does this for the purpose of bringing us to the end of ourselves where we give up trying to live for ourselves or trying to manipulate our circumstances, and we simply surrender to Him and trust Him with everything in our lives.

3.5.1. I believe that a person usually does not really learn how to trust God with everything in his life until he goes through these types of circumstances and comes to the end of himself. It appears that ‘the last place that a person turns to is the Lord’, and a person usually turns to God in this way when he has finally hit rock bottom.

3.5.1.1.For many years, my wife and I both had good career jobs and together brought in quite a bit of money. In Seattle where we lived, Jill was an administrator for a division of a huge Fortune 500 company, and I worked as an engineer. We used to live rather luxuriously, though we didn’t really buy lots of toys. We used to do lots of entertaining our friends, Christian and non-Christian, and we would not spare expense for these times. We primarily ate in restaurants when we weren’t entertaining people. I knew that our priorities were off-base in being the stewards that God wanted us to be of our finances, however all I ever did about it was pray, ‘Lord help us to be better stewards’. Then, we just kept living at the same level, wasting lots of money. Well, we had just bought our second house in 1990, and now we had a sizeable mortgage to have to pay each month, not to mention expensive car payments and other debts. Just three months or so after buying the new house, Jill’s job moved down to Phoenix, and after praying about the company’s offer to move us to Phoenix, we decided that God wanted us to stay in Seattle. Jill then began to look for a job. However, not too long after starting to look Jill unexpectedly became pregnant with our second child, Alicia. All during the pregnancy Jill was very ill with Toxemia, and she couldn’t look for work. Then, after giving birth she was a new mother and couldn’t look for work with a brand new baby. Finally, she started to look for work however as application after application went out, no one would hire Jill. She went on several job interviews and actually went on three or four third interviews, yet the company ended up hiring the other person. Meanwhile, I was looking for some work to do on the side, contract engineering work, and I couldn’t find any. From the time that Jill’s job moved to Phoenix, we began to run out of money very quickly, especially since we just continued for awhile living at our same level. After about 3 months our $5,000 in savings was gone. Then, we began to be about $1,200 a month in the red. We had no means to bring in other money, and so we began to learn what it meant to really live by faith. We began to pray for God to provide the money for each bill that would come in, and we determined not to look to the arm of the flesh, to people to help us out, but rather just the Lord. As we prayed in faith, money would then come from places that we wouldn’t expect and we would be able to pay our bills. However, as soon as we were rejoicing that God had provided the money to pay for one bill, we would realize that we needed to pray for the next bill. One time a few months after our daughter had been born we had just paid our mortgage and another bill that was due and we had a stack of bills worth over $900, and no money to live on for the next two weeks. We didn’t even have money for food, and we just had a few things in our cupboards. Then, that next week, a couple of days apart, Jill got a check from each of the two previous companies that she had worked for telling her in each case that they had checked their records and it appeared like they had perhaps not paid her the full amount of money that she had coming after she had left, so they were paying her about a month’s worth of income. We’ve never heard of that happening once to anyone before, much less by two companies in the same week! We continued with our finances in this condition for almost four years. Jill finally quit looking for work about 2 years into this process when her and I both came to the conclusion that God was trying to tell us through the circumstances that He wanted her to be a fulltime mom and be there for both of our young kids. However, God still had not provided a way for us to pay our bills. I went to a financial counselor at one point and he said that our basic problem was that we were $1,200 in the red every month?! This went on for almost 4 years with us being on our knees for each bill. God gave us the money to pay each one. We paid every bill. We were often late on our bills during this time, however we paid every one. I do not believe that we could write down a balance sheet and explain where the money came from to pay all of our bills during those 4 years. It was simply miraculous to say the least.

3.5.1.1.1.During these four years we were also praying that God would allow us to sell our house so that we could use the money we got from our equity to both pay off all of our debts plus to be able to move to Montana and plant a Calvary Chapel church. We felt called to go there, and we prayed constantly that God would open the door for us to go, however we had to sell our house in order to do so since we were so leveraged financially.

3.5.1.1.2.This was the process that God put us through to bring us to the place where we were finally able to be good stewards of the things that God had given us. We had to be good stewards during this time. Ours was a ‘disaster budget’ for four years. If we didn’t have to have something we couldn’t get it.

3.5.1.1.3.This was the process that taught us to be dependent upon God and to look to Him for our strength and all that we need.

3.5.1.1.4.At the end of this four year period we were finally able to sell our house, and the money that we made from our equity we used to move to Montana and plant the Calvary Chapel in Helena in June of 1994.

3.5.1.1.4.1.In Montana we had to live on a very small income and suddenly we realized why God had taken us through the four year school of financial stewardship that we had just gone through.

3.5.2. In those times when things are out of control in our lives, God wants us to learn that it is when we are weak that He will be strong in our lives.

3.5.2.1.In 2 Cor. 12:7-10, Paul wrote about an event in his life in which he had an ailment for which he needed healing, a thorn in his side, and yet he kept praying that the Lord would heal him of this, however the Lord didn’t heal him because this condition kept him from being puffed and also it was in his weakness that he would be made strong in Christ, “7 And because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me—to keep me from exalting myself! 8 Concerning this I entreated the Lord three times that it might depart from me. 9 And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 10 Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”

3.5.2.2.As I mentioned earlier, when things are going along smoothly in our lives, it is at those times that we tend not to trust in Christ and look to His strength in our life.

3.5.2.3.Paul had power demonstrated in his life, however the power that he had was power that God gave to him in the midst of his weakness, in the midst of persecutions, in the midst of great sufferings, and in the midst of ‘chaos’.

3.5.2.3.1.In 1 Cor. 2:4-5, Paul wrote to the Corinthians about how his ministry to them was in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power, “4 And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.”

3.5.2.4.Ken Ortiz defines ‘power’ in the world’s view as being ‘the ability to adjust life to what I want’ and thus powerful men manipulate others and situations to make life comfortable for them, however ‘power’ through Christ as being ‘the ability to stay where we are without being moved’.

3.5.2.4.1.Ken also points out that Paul had absolutely no power in the world’s sense, however incredible strength through Christ in this situation.

3.5.3. The apostle Paul was surrounded by an angry mob that was sure to tear him to pieces, beat him to death, or stone him to death, and yet we are amazed when we see him in the midst of these circumstances for he has complete control of his composure, as he has learned many lessons throughout his Christian experience and missionary journeys.

3.5.3.1.To be content in whatever state he is in (Phil. 4:11).

3.5.3.2.Just as Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would give him the words to speak if he ever were persecuted for Christ’s sake.

3.5.3.2.1.Jesus spoke of this in Luke 12:11-12, “11 “And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not become anxious about how or what you should speak in your defense, or what you should say; 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.””

3.5.3.3.God is the one who is in control of the circumstances of our lives, He is on the throne.

3.5.3.4.Everything happens for a reason, not by chance.

3.5.3.4.1.Paul wrote about this in Romans 8:28, “28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

3.5.4. When things are out of our control and ‘chaos’ is ruling, it doesn’t mean that we aren’t just where God wants us to be, nor that He can’t use us right in the midst of it.

4. VS 21:33-36 - “33 Then the commander came up and took hold of him, and ordered him to be bound with two chains; and he began asking who he was and what he had done. 34 But among the crowd some were shouting one thing and some another, and when he could not find out the facts on account of the uproar, he ordered him to be brought into the barracks. 35 And when he got to the stairs, it so happened that he was carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob; 36 for the multitude of the people kept following behind, crying out, “Away with him!”” - The commander order Paul bound and then sought to obtain from the multitude what bad thing Paul had done

4.1. The commander tried to get an account of what the mob was accusing Paul of doing, however some said one thing and others another thing, and thus he had no idea why they were accusing and beating Paul.

4.2. Paul had to be carried out of the temple by the soldiers because of the angry mob.

4.3. This blood thirsty crowd yelled at the Roman commander concerning Paul just as they had yelled many years earlier concerning Jesus, ‘Away with him!’ They wanted Paul to be put to death.

5. VS 21:37-40 - “37 And as Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the commander, “May I say something to you?” And he *said, “Do you know Greek? 38 “Then you are not the Egyptian who some time ago stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand men of the Assassins out into the wilderness?” 39 But Paul said, “I am a Jew of Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no insignificant city; and I beg you, allow me to speak to the people.” 40 And when he had given him permission, Paul, standing on the stairs, motioned to the people with his hand; and when there was a great hush, he spoke to them in the Hebrew dialect, saying,” - Paul obtained permission from the commander to address the mob that had been beating him

5.1. The Roman commander assumed that Paul was some Egyptian who had stirred up some revolt and had taken four thousand ‘men of the Assassins” (or “murderers”) and gone into a wilderness area. However, when he heard Paul speak to him in Greek he was stunned. Greek was the language of the educated, wealthy, and influential people of the world.

5.1.1. Because Paul spoke Greek, the Roman commander appeared to be worried that Paul might have friends in high places, and therefore he began to be very concerned as to how he would handle this situation.

5.2. In Paul’s position at this moment, most of us would have just wanted the Roman soldiers to whisk us up as fast as possible and take us to safety, however we see that Paul is filled with incredible inner strength and power through Christ, and that even now he is looking for an opportunity to share his testimony with this crowd that wanted to rip him apart.

5.3. Paul then asked the commander for permission to address the crowd, and since the commander was stunned that Paul knew Greek and therefore was probably well connected at the top, so to speak, he decides to let Paul address this crowd..

5.3.1. With the riot was now in control since the soldiers now had possession of Paul, the commander believed that he had nothing to lose in letting Paul address this crowd, therefore he gives him the opportunity to do just that.

5.3.1.1.The Romans had a tendency to execute commanders and those left in charge when those men let things under their responsibility get out of control.

5.4. We will cover Paul’s address to the crowd in the next chapter of Acts.

6. CONCLUSION:

6.1. Remember that God is in control of circumstances

6.2. If your in the midst of ‘chaos’:

6.2.1. Look to Christ for His strength

6.2.2. Know that Christ can use you

6.2.3. In your weakness know that Christ can be strong

6.2.4. Don’t let your circumstances move you, but trust in God

6.2.4.1.Be like the sturdy oak tree who has such a massive root system and such solid layers of pulp that it is unmoved against the fiercest of storms

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