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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”
When he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, “The Lord’s will be done.”
After this, we started on our way up to Jerusalem. Some of the disciples from Caesarea accompanied us and brought us to the home of Mnason, where we were to stay. He was a man from Cyprus and one of the early disciples.
Acts 21:12-16
This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
“This, then, is how you should pray:”
“‘Our
Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on
earth as it is in heaven.’” Matthew 6:9-10
Jesus taught His followers many things in the course of His ministry and we continue to receive His instruction today through His words captured in the Gospels.
As we see in the opening, one of the things Jesus relayed onto His disciples was the proper way to pray to God the Father. Our Savior offered the words that we all should pray, words which included reverence unto His holy name, a petition for His kingdom to come from heaven, and finally for His will to be done.
His will, not our own.
We pray the prayer Jesus taught and it automatically places us in a position of submission as we confess our desire to allow God’s goals for our lives to reign supreme, no matter where His will might lead us.
Now keep in mind that God’s will is rarely going to align with what we might do if left to our own devices. In fact, God’s will might lead us down the road of hardship and suffering as He seeks to remind us of His goodness and power to restore while sustaining us and refining our faith.
Through it all, we need to remember this one simple truth:
God will never bring us to something that He isn’t prepared to bring us through.
The Apostle Paul knew this all too well. The evangelism road he traveled during his missionary journeys wasn’t exactly easy. There were many challenges as well as physical and mental health afflictions. For every hospitable welcome Paul received, there was someone or some group who wanted him dead.
And yet, Paul pressed on for the cause of Christ.
Why?
Because it was God’s will for him, plain and simple. He realized this but those close to him had trouble understanding. We saw it in the disciples at Tyre who had received a vision from the Spirit about the hardship Paul would encounter in Jerusalem. And we see it in today’s passage as Paul makes final preparations to enter Israel’s capital city. Look again at these verses:
When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”
When he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, “The Lord’s will be done.”
After this, we started on our way up to Jerusalem. Some of the disciples from Caesarea accompanied us and brought us to the home of Mnason, where we were to stay. He was a man from Cyprus and one of the early disciples.
Note here that the person speaking changes. We usually have seen Paul carrying the conversations but here the speaker is joining others in pleading with Paul to no go to Jerusalem.
So who does the voice belong to?
None other than the author of this book, Luke, the same Luke who penned the Gospel bearing his name.
So does Paul listen to the pleas and change his mind?
Not exactly. For we read this reply which doubles down on his intentions:
“Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”
Paul has his mind made up and he basically rebukes Luke and the others for trying to convince him to stay away from Jerusalem. He knew there was a good possibility that he might be bound like Agabus had prophesied but in Paul’s eyes, as long as it was for the cause of Christ, he was ready to go through it. After all, Paul knew Jesus suffered for him and he was following his Savior’s lead.
So how did Luke and the others respond to Paul’s stubborn insistence?
They said this:
“The Lord’s will be done.”
In other words, it wasn’t what they wanted that mattered. It wasn’t what Paul wanted that mattered. The only thing that mattered was what the Lord wanted. It was true in the New Testament setting of Acts and it’s still true today. We all should be adopting Paul’s approach to the way we live life, respecting the Lord’s will and accepting it, no matter what it might bring.
Luke and those with him did just that as they traveled with Paul to Jerusalem and stayed at the home of one of the early disciples, a Cyprian named Mnason. We’ll see what happens as they arrive in Jerusalem in tomorrow’s message.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
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