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Acts 21 "Paul and the Prophets"
When Paul took leave of the Ephesians elders he told them that he was going bound in the spirit to Jerusalem and that the Holy Spirit was testifying in every city, saying that chains and tribulations awaited him. But Paul, like Jesus, set his face toward Jerusalem. Chapter 21 of Acts tells the story of Paul’s journey to Jerusalem.
Now it came to pass, that when we had departed from them and set sail, running a straight course we came to Cos, the following day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara. And finding a ship sailing over to Phoenicia, we went aboard and set sail. When we had sighted Cyprus, we passed it on the left, sailed to Syria, and landed at Tyre; for there the ship was to unload her cargo. (Acts 21:1-3)
And finding disciples, we stayed there seven days. They told Paul through the Spirit not to go up to Jerusalem. When we had come to the end of those days, we departed and went on our way; and they all accompanied us, with wives and children, till we were out of the city. And we knelt down on the shore and prayed. When we had taken our leave of one another, we boarded the ship, and they returned home. (Acts 21:4-6)
On the way to Jerusalem Paul stopped off in the city of
Tyre, waiting for seven days for the ship that he was travelling on
to leave port. And while he was there he fellowshipped with the Christians
in that place. And evidently he made quite an impact because they all
went to see him off with their wives and children. We had the same kind
of experience in America as we visited churches that we had never been
to before and yet were received with Christian love, even feeling like
we were staying with good friends whom we had known all of our life.
Before we came back to Japan from seminary, we had to say goodbye to
the little Japanese-American church that we had been serving. They threw
us a goodbye party and at the end as they were all hugging and crying
and praying for us, my little son Keita asked in a loud voice, "Daddy,
are we going to heaven now?", "No, no son, we are going to
Japan."
But the church in Tyre had a word for Paul, through the Holy Spirit.
Have you ever been given a word from the Lord through somebody else?
We usually call this prophecy. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 14:3 “But
he who speaks prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort
to men. Now we normally think of prophecy as telling the future. But
the concept in the Bible is a little broader than that. A prophet might
be telling the future but more importantly a prophet is telling forth
the truth. So rather than a fortune-teller, a prophet is a forth-teller
of the truth. And the truth of God is for building us up, encouraging
us, and reminding us of His love and care for us.
Except sometimes people claim to be getting a word from the Lord for
you, but it is just their own opinion, or worse it can be manipulation.
Paul had been hearing from the Holy Spirit in each city how chains and
tribulations were waiting for him in Jerusalem. He felt bound in the
spirit to go. And now suddenly the Spirit had changed his mind and was
telling him not to go? Paul had quite a lot of experience with this
kind of thing and he writes in 1Co 14:29 that we need to judge prophecy.
It needs to be filtered through our minds just like teaching, and counseling
and we must be convinced rationally, not just touched emotionally by
it. Paul weighed the word that was spoken through the Christians in
Tyre, against what he had already received, and continued to make his
way down to Jerusalem.
And when we had finished our voyage from Tyre, we came to Ptolemais, greeted the brethren, and stayed with them one day. On the next day we who were Paul’s companions departed and came to Caesarea, and entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him. Now this man had four virgin daughters who prophesied. And as we stayed many days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. When he had come to us, he took Paul’s belt, bound his own hands and feet, and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.” Now when we heard these things, both we and those from that place pleaded with him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, “What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” So when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, ‘The will of the Lord be done.” (Acts 21:7-14)
The next stop for Paul was the port of Caesarea, which
Herod the Great had built as a port city for Jerusalem. There he stayed
with Philip the evangelist. This is the same Philip that Paul had forced
through persecution to flee Jerusalem 20 years before. Now Paul is staying
in his house! What a conversation they must of had. Isn’t it amazing
what God can do, bitter enemies being reconciled by the grace of God.
Philip had four daughters who prophecied. Again we see this prophecy
as a part of the church but I find it very interesting that, although
these four daughters were known for their prophetic ministry, not one
of them had a word for Paul! Here is Paul, at a crisis time of his life,
and yet none of these four gave a prophecy for him. In 1 Corinthians,
Paul says that the “spirit of the prophets is subject to the prophets.”
(1Cor.14:22) This means that it is not like the movies where the prophet
loses control of their bodies and starts speaking out wildly. Instead,
when there is a word from the Lord the prophet knows it, and also can
choose the right time and place to give that word. Philip’s four
daughters didn’t get a word and so did not feel like they needed
to say anything. They didn’t feel like they needed to think something
up to say, or work themselves up into some kind of emotional state,
they just kept their peace.
But God did have another prophet through whom he wanted to speak, this
was Agabus. And Agabus shared the prophecy in a very graphic way. He
tied himself up with Paul’s belt and said that in the same way
Paul would be bound in Jerusalem. Many times God “speaks”
not through words, but pictures in our minds. And these pictures can
be very powerful. I find that my wife gets picture messages from God
more often than I do. And she will be encouraged or comforted by these
pictures much more than from just words.
Let’s look at the difference between the prophets in Tyre and
the prophets in Ceasarea. I think that the message that the Holy Spirit
sent was the same. He was confirming that Paul would be bound and face
tribulation in Jerusalem. But in Tyre, the prophet took that message
from God and interpreted it to mean that Paul should not go. Agabus
however, received the message and passed the message on as is to Paul
to interpret for himself. Do you see the difference? Teaching oftentimes
deals with our response to God, about 70% of what I do as a teacher
is tell you what God has done for you, who God is, how God works, how
much God loves you. The other 30% of what I do is tell you what we should
do in response to God. In this 30% I am interpreting the written word
of God, the Bible, into the context of our daily lives. But prophecy
is not concerned with what you should do. Prophecy is not God’s
way of telling you what to do. Instead prophecy is concerned with truth.
What is real. What is of God. Your choice is not real until you make
it. That is up to you. But the things of God are solid. That is what
prophecy is about. In the church Paul says “Let two or three prophets
speak, and let the others judge.” (14:29) It is after we have
heard the prophecy that we can weigh it and interpret it in light of
the Bible and our situation.
From August we will be starting a Sunday evening service at the Sangenjaya
church. It will be from 5:30 to 7:00 and focus on Jesus Christ through
worship and prayer. During this time we want to be open to the working
of the Holy Spirit, whether that be prophecy, or spiritual songs, or
tongues and interpretation or teachings. My desire is that it will be
a very good time of edification, exhortation and comfort. And I have
chosen two manuals for it. The first is this passage from 1 Corinthians
and the part that goes before it which reminds us that even if we have
stunning power in miracles and prophecy but have not love, we are missing
the point. The second will be the book of Psalms. This is the Bible’s
worship and prayer manual and so I will be giving a short teaching from
each Psalm in order on each Sunday. I am very excited that the Lord
has provided us with a place where we can do this and I am happy that
Pastor Hirano has is going to come and teach at this service once a
month in English. Let us pray together that the Lord will continue to
do a new thing with us.
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