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Main Idea
People have specific barriers to the gospel that they need help getting past.
Mental Barrier
Coaches in sports say the struggle is 90% mental.
Runners say they hit a wall in a marathon. Not a physical wall, but a mental wall.
I’m not a runner, but I was a powerlifter, and it was intimidating to stare at a bar loaded with weights I’d never pushed before. My body might be capable, but my mind is limiting me.
There is a mental barrier to overcome. The same is true with the gospel. Traditions, misinformation, ignorance, past experiences, skepticism… all of these things are barriers to overcome to accept the Christian message or grow in our faith.
Paul is no stranger to these barriers. He has been helping others overcome barriers his whole Christian life, and he will do so again today.
Passage
Acts 21:15–26 ESV
After these days we got ready and went up to Jerusalem. And some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us, bringing us to the house of Mnason of Cyprus, an early disciple, with whom we should lodge. When we had come to Jerusalem, the brothers received us gladly. On the following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present. After greeting them, he related one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. And when they heard it, they glorified God. And they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed. They are all zealous for the law, and they have been told about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or walk according to our customs. What then is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. Do therefore what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow; take these men and purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses, so that they may shave their heads. Thus all will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you yourself also live in observance of the law. But as for the Gentiles who have believed, we have sent a letter with our judgment that they should abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality.” Then Paul took the men, and the next day he purified himself along with them and went into the temple, giving notice when the days of purification would be fulfilled and the offering presented for each one of them.
Walking into the Fog
Don’t forget where Paul is mentally. For years, he has been given a prophetic glimpse of the future as told by the Holy Spirit, confirming his affliction and imprisonment.
He is now in Jerusalem, where he knows he will be persecuted and imprisoned.
The People
Set the stage:
Paul and Co. (Co. being Timothy, Titus, Luke, the Regional Leadership Team we met in Ephesus)
Disciples from Caesarea – traveled 62 miles with Paul from Caesarea to Jerusalem.
Mnason of Cyprus – all we know is what is said of him here. The name is likely a Hellenized version of Manasseh. He is an early convert – either during the time of Christ or shortly afterward. He is also hospitable, being the one to give them lodging.
James – the half-brother of Jesus, not James, the brother of John (one of the Sons of Thunder)
The Elders – of the Jerusalem church (may or may not include the Apostles)
Why James?
Did you notice that James is the only apostle or Elder mentioned by name? Why is that? Where is everyone else, and why are they not named?
Maybe because he had clout as Jesus’ half-brother?
James is the leader of the Jerusalem Church
James is also the one who gives practical advice, as seen in his epistle.
James backed up Paul at the Jerusalem Council (recap)
Fellowship
First, Paul gave a ministry update (related everything, one by one), from riots to resurrection.
This got everyone excited, so they glorified God.
What a great picture of what we should be doing – testifying to one another God’s work in our lives and praising Him for it.
This got James and the Elders to reflect on what God had done in Jerusalem. Many have come to Christ but still have significant barriers to their spiritual growth.
The Barrier to the Jews
The Jerusalem believers had a very difficult barrier to overcome. Though they had believed and were assumably followers of Christ, they were still tied to the Law in an unhealthy way.
They were likely influenced by the Judaizers, who demanded circumcision as mandatory for salvation.
They wrongfully accused Paul of teaching the dispersed Jews to forsake Moses and Jewish customs.
They had a massive barrier to break through. They couldn’t get past their customs or the biblical reality that salvation is by grace through faith… not works of the law.
And they were demonizing an innocent man. Paul didn’t teach Jews to forsake Moses. He observed rituals on multiple accounts, had Timothy circumcised, and was a Jew to the Jews. They misunderstood his message that the law cannot make anyone righteous or provide salvation. It is simply a mirror that reveals our sin and unworthiness.
The Crucial Question
“What then is to be done?”
Isn’t this always the key question? How often do we see barriers in ourselves and others and complain about them? We ask questions like: How did this barrier get here? Why me? How did I get here? Why can’t I get around this? These are the wrong questions. They are whiny questions. They are self-pity questions that don’t get past the problem. The only right question is: What then shall be done?
The solution to the Jewish Barrier
Show them how they are wrong!
The solution was for Paul to adhere to a Jewish custom that would (1) prove them wrong and (2) not confuse the real issue.
Four men were currently under a vow – assumably the Nazarite vow of Numbers 6:1-21 (which is likely the same vow Paul already took in Acts 18). The content of the vow isn’t as important as its cultural significance. Taking this vow with these four men and paying for their expenses would demonstrate Paul’s participation and support of Jewish custom, not the removal of it.
This would be like a lavender-scented balm on their angry assumptions and give Paul the ability to proclaim the gospel to them!
The Gentile Barrier
Though not stated, we’ve learned that the barrier to the Gentiles is the complete opposite.
They never had the law, so they had to tame their promiscuous and idolatrous ways. But they don’t need to abide by all the rules and regulations of the Law either. Their task was to protect their freedom in Christ without shackling them to unnecessary Jewish practices, all while safeguarding the truthfulness of the gospel message. That is why James reiterates what the Elders of Jerusalem had concluded during the big council meeting in Acts 15.
Barriers in the Church
The same barriers exist today, don’t they?
The Jews struggled to get past the reality that they could not earn their way to heaven or do enough good works to obtain righteousness.
The Gentiles shouldn’t carry the 613 laws that the Jews did, yet their freedom in Christ didn’t mean a license to sin either.
Romans 6:1–2 ESV
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
Yet, how many times have we heard this or something similar? This is why learning church history is so important, by the way. If we don’t learn from the mistakes of the past, we are doomed to repeat them in the future.
Those are barriers in the church universal. Now, let’s bring it down where the rubber meets the road.
What are your Barriers?
We all have them. Don’t be naïve enough to think you don’t.
What are your barriers?
If you do not yet believe in Jesus as the Messiah, then what is prohibiting you? Is it specific skepticism, past church hurt, doubt in the reality of the supernatural, or even fear of what will happen if you do believe?
If you are a Christian, what barriers keep you from growing? Is it pride, tradition, ignorance, disconnectedness, relational distress church hurt from a leader, church hurt from a friend?
What then shall be done?