Colliding With Culture (Collision part 2 of 4)

In our study here at Cross Connection today, we're looking at the Scriptures and what they have to say about culture and the importance of how we live in a culture. One of the things that we see in this passage we're examining in Acts chapter 21 is that you don't have to leave everything in your native culture to be a Christian. You can still be a Christian and like the Chargers or whatever football team you support. You can still be a Christian and, for all intents and purposes, look much like the other people in the world. However, there are certain things that will transform in you, and through you, transform others.

So, open your Bible to Acts chapter 21. I think you'll be blessed as we study the Scriptures together. God bless you! I think we can bring the lights up now.

Alright, Acts 21. If you don't have a Bible, you can raise your hand, and one of our ushers will bring you one. We're going to begin reading at verse 15.

Acts 21:15 states, "After those days, we packed and went up to Jerusalem. Also, some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us, and they brought with them a certain Nasin of Cyprus, an early disciple with whom we were to lodge. When we had come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly. On the following day, Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present. When he had greeted them, he told them in detail those things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. When they heard it, they glorified the Lord and said to him, 'You see, brother, how many myriads of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law. But they have been informed about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that you ought not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs. What then? The assembly must certainly meet, for they will hear that you have come. Therefore, do what we tell you. We have four men who have taken a vow. Take them and be purified with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads, and that all may know that those things which they have been informed concerning you are nothing, but that you yourself walk orderly and keep the law. But concerning the Gentiles who believe, we have written and decided that they should not observe any such thing except that they should keep themselves from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality.'"

Well then, Paul...

Took the men, and the next day, having been purified with them, entered the temple to announce the expiration of their days of purification, at which time an offering should be made for each of them. Now, when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd. They laid hands on him, crying out, "Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against the people, the law, and this place. Furthermore, he has brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled the holy place." They had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple. All the city was disturbed, and all the people ran together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and immediately the doors were shut.

Father, we know that Your word is living and powerful, that it is sharper than any two-edged sword. It is useful for teaching, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness, that we, Your people, would be thoroughly equipped for every good work. We pray, God, that as we come before Your word today, You would do that equipping work in us to make us ready to bring glory to Your name. Transform us by the renewing of our minds. Help us to find application in this passage of Scripture that we would further glorify You in the day in which we live. For we ask it in Jesus' name, and all God's people agreed, saying, "Amen." You can be seated.

It was about three days before Christmas, nearly ten years ago now, that I was visiting some friends in Louisiana. I was returning from the Bible college that I was teaching at in Zegan, Germany, and I decided to stop off there before I came back home to celebrate the holidays with my family. I was visiting those friends just outside of New Orleans, and I was driving from northern Louisiana back down to their home in Mandeville, Louisiana. I found myself in the worst downpour that I've ever driven in.

Now, we Californians are not accustomed to such things. In fact, when we have a drizzle, we have the national record for traffic accidents, and rain is right here in San Diego. So, we don't necessarily know the best way to drive in that sort of downpour. I was driving a rented Nissan Titan truck, and the problem with trucks like that is if you don't have anything in the back, it's kind of lightweight.

I was coming off one highway onto another, as if crossing from the 78 to the 15. As I accelerated onto this new freeway, I had a rather unsettling feeling. Maybe you've experienced this before. I could tell that I did not have the same control of the vehicle I was driving. The lightweight back end of the truck had started to lift, even if it was just millimeters off the ground; it was no longer in contact with the road. Then it started to spin, and I was completely out of control. This all happened very quickly, although in my mind, it felt as if I were in the Matrix—everything was in slow motion.

I can remember sliding across two lanes of the freeway and then going across the green belt between the northbound and southbound lanes. With absolute clarity, I recall a dark red late-model Ford Thunderbird driving from my right in front of me. The eyes of the older gentleman driving it were as big as volleyballs as I slammed into the side of him at about 50 miles per hour. In that split second, just before I hit him, I had one of those little thought prayers: "Lord, please don't let this hurt." Graciously, it did not hurt. I walked away from that accident, and I am very thankful that I was able to do so. It wasn't too terrible for him or for me.

The next day, I went to the Enterprise Rent-A-Car dealer where I had rented the car. I brought them the keys and set them down on the table. The guy looked at me and asked, "Where's the vehicle?" I replied, "Well, you'll have to talk to the police about that." Luckily, I had bought collision insurance. Normally, you don't do that when renting a car, but for some reason, I must have been guided by the Lord. I remember when the guy asked me if I wanted to get the collision insurance; for some reason, I said, "Yeah, I think I will."

This brings me to the first point on your outline in your sermon guide: sometimes a collision is unavoidable. For some of you sitting here this morning, that's a story you have experienced yourself. You've gone through that kind of situation where you know a collision is unavoidable. There is no way to get out of it; it is inevitable.

In that instance, you find yourself feeling almost as if you have no control. In our story in Acts chapter 21, beginning at verse 15, we sit this morning as bystanders, watching in slow motion as Paul heads back to Jerusalem to encounter a collision there in the city that was unavoidable. This collision was something he knew was coming for nearly two months, as he had been traveling from Corinth in Greece, going up to Macedonia, to Philippi, and then around to Asia Minor, before finally making his way back down to Judea and arriving in Jerusalem.

Over that two-month period in the year 58 A.D., everywhere Paul stopped, as we have seen previously in our story in Acts 20:23, the same message was given to him in every city. They testified that chains and tribulations awaited him at Jerusalem. Yet, he was determined to go. In Acts 20:22, he stated that he was bound by the Spirit of the Lord to return to Jerusalem. The Lord was compelling him for one reason or another to go back to the city.

We know that he was carrying with him an offering for the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem, who were experiencing a financial downturn and a time of distress and poverty. This offering had come from the Gentile Christians in the regions of Galatia, Macedonia, Greece, and Asia Minor. So, at the very least, he was carrying that with him. Additionally, we know that he had at least eight traveling companions, whose names are listed at the beginning of Acts chapter 20. Seven of them were Gentiles from the churches in the regions where Paul had planted churches, and one was half Jewish, a man named Timothy. Most of them were Gentile men traveling with the Apostle Paul.

While they were in the city of Corinth, which was 1,200 miles away from Jerusalem, the people were warning him not to go back. There was a group conspiring to kill Paul and take his life. In the cities of Philippi, Troas, Asos, Miletus, and others, everywhere Paul went, people urged him not to go to Jerusalem, saying that chains and tribulation awaited him there. The collision was inevitable. The Lord was compelling him to go, but He was also revealing to Paul what was going to happen in Jerusalem. There was no way to avoid it.

Paul understood, as we saw last week, the danger he faced. Yet, even in the face of danger, he maintained an undeterred and unwavering devotion to the task that God had placed upon him. I believe there is a reason for this, as we discussed in our study last week, and we will see it even more as we go through this text this morning.

Paul was seeking to deal with an internal division that was undermining the early church—an internal cultural and racial divide. Throughout church history, we know that external opposition to the work of God and the church often pushes the church to become stronger and to grow. However, it is often internal division that breaks a church apart.

In the early church, although we sometimes look upon the Book of Acts and the first-century church as if nothing bad ever happened and only great things occurred, the reality was that there was severe turmoil in the body of Christ during that period. This turmoil stemmed from a racial divide between Jews and Gentiles. We know that the gospel came to the Jew first. Jesus was a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the gospel was first preached to those who were the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Even Jesus's early disciples were instructed during His ministry not to go to Gentiles.

However, after Jesus's death and resurrection, He told them, "You will be witnesses of Me in Jerusalem and in Judea, but then you are going to go to Samaria and the uttermost parts of the earth." The gospel is for all people at all times among all cultures; it was not only for one small subset of people in the Middle East.

Yet, there was a group of people—the Jewish people—who, because of their theology and their view of themselves as God's chosen people, looked down upon the rest of the world with a sense of superiority. This was a reality of their culture, and thus there was a severe divide between Jews and the Gentiles who were coming to faith.

In the middle of this divide was the Apostle Paul, a former Jewish Pharisee who was prominently schooled in Jerusalem under a man named Gamaliel, well-known among all the Jews of the day. This former Pharisee had become a follower of Jesus back in Acts chapter nine. Just three days after his conversion, God told him, "I’m calling you to do something that is out of the..."

Ordinary God said, "You will be an apostle." That is one sent with a message. But you're going to be an apostle to Gentiles, and I'm going to bring you before kings, judges, and rulers—people who are outside of your territory, outside of your cultural comfort zone. You're going to go and minister to people who are not Jews, to bring the gospel of grace and the glory of God to those who were not descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Through the bulk of Paul's ministry and much of his life, he spent his time not in Jerusalem or Judea, where he had been trained and where he probably expected he would be for the rest of his life. Instead, he spent the rest of his time in places like Syria, modern-day Turkey, Greece, and Macedonia. Those were the areas where Paul went, where it was predominantly Gentile. Yes, there were some Jews there, but for the most part, it was Gentile regions. God had said, "You will be my ambassador to those who are not descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."

Why? Well, John 3 tells us, "For God so loved the world." God loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. So, Paul was going to be the first—not the only, but the first—who would be an apostle, one sent to other people groups, to other people outside of his native culture.

There was a massive racial divide within the early church, and Paul was right in the middle of that. This divide was disrupting and had the potential to bring great division and destruction to the body of Christ. That divide grew to a crescendo during Paul's third missionary journey while he was in the city of Ephesus in Asia Minor during the years 54 to 58 A.D. While he was there in that city, that's where it really started to build.

It didn't only build in the city of Ephesus; it began to boil over and followed him into Corinth. When he visited Corinth, there were Jews from Asia Minor, specifically from the chief city of Ephesus, who followed him. They brought people in from Judea—Jews from Judea—into this as well, and they were conspiring to kill him. So, it boiled over from Ephesus and followed him into Corinth, and now it was going to meet him back in Jerusalem, the capital of Judaism, where the temple is for every Jew in every part of the world.

At that time, and really at any time, their focus has been on Jerusalem. Now, Paul is going back to what some have called the epicenter. You can see the traces of this division between Jew and Gentile within the body of Christ, not just at the very beginning but all the way through Christian history. This divide between Jews and Gentile Christians is evident.

The division is clear in the Book of Acts and in Paul's letters that he wrote in the New Testament. Letters like First and Second Corinthians, First and Second Thessalonians, Galatians, and Philippians speak of it. All of Paul's letters, including Ephesians and Romans, highlight this issue. If you read between the lines or look at the text through this lens, you begin to see that this was a real problem that Paul was dealing with in the early church.

I think it's clear that this last journey of Paul as a free man, as he leaves Corinth in the spring of A.D. 58, and goes north to Macedonia, then all the way around the Aegean Sea down to Judea, was not just to bring a financial offering. As I said last week, I believe the purpose of this journey was reconciliation. Paul is seeking, and these are words that you hear in the 21st century, to deal with a racial divide and bring about racial reconciliation. The Word of God is applicable to us today just as it was 2,000 years ago.

He is going to Jerusalem to address these problems that were undermining the faith. Right before he made this journey, one of the letters he wrote during that period of time in Ephesus, during his third missionary journey, was the Second Letter to the Corinthians. In that letter, he says God has given us the word of reconciliation; He has made us ministers of reconciliation. He talks about there being one faith.

The next letter that Paul writes, although it would be about five or six years after this event, is the Book of Ephesians. In Ephesians, he says Jesus has torn down the middle wall of separation that was between us. He has taken away the divide between Jew and Gentile and has made us one in Christ. Ephesians chapter 4 states there is one hope, one baptism, one faith, and one Lord.

So, Paul was contending for unity within the body of Christ when there was a severe divide that was seeking to tear it apart.

Going back to Jerusalem to bring about a reconciliation was not only between Christians of Jewish heritage and Christians of Gentile heritage; it was a reconciliation between Christians and Jews. Paul was trying to reach out to his own people, even though he was a minister and an apostle to Gentiles. However, Paul had come to be seen by his own people—by those who were his own blood, by those who were his family—as a defector. They viewed him as someone who had rejected the core tenets of what they believed, and not just what they believed, but what they were about.

Judaism was not just a faith; it was a way of life, an entire worldview, an entire culture. This was a people whose religion was their national identity. In their view, Paul had, in some ways, dissented from that. They saw him as having defected from their customs and culture, which was a significant concern. Before his conversion to Christ, before he became a follower of Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah, Paul identified himself as a Pharisee of the Pharisees. The Pharisees were not only committed to the Law of Moses; they were also committed to the customs and traditions of the people, holding those things as divine. Paul claimed to be blameless according to the law, and he was ardently devoted to the cultural traditions of his people.

Now, there was a group of people in his nation saying that Paul had left all of that. Not only had he left it, but he was also teaching others to abandon it. We know, as we have been following Paul's teachings in the Book of Acts and in his letters, that this was not what he was teaching. However, it was a rumor that easily stuck to him because he was reaching out to non-Jews. He was not telling those non-Jews, who were now converting to Christ, that they had to follow the Law of Moses.

Of course, this was not something that Paul came up with on his own. When you look back at Acts chapter 15, you see that this was the consensus of the early church. The early church agreed that they were not going to place the Law of Moses on the backs of these Gentile converts to Christianity. Paul was only carrying on the consensus of the Christians in the city.

Jerusalem had leaders in the church, but there were people labeling him as a defector and a dissenter. The events of Acts 21, verses 15 through 25, that we are looking at today, and the things that Paul agrees to do in this passage, only make sense if you view them through this lens. I emphasize this because if you do not consider that Paul is trying to deal with a cultural divide in the church, the only conclusion you can draw from his actions is that he is inconsistent at best, and at worst, a hypocrite who is compromising.

Some Bible teachers and commentators interpret this passage in exactly that way. They argue that the Apostle Paul, who had been seeking to bring the gospel to non-Jews without imposing the burden of the Law of Moses upon them, is now returning to Jerusalem and completely flip-flopping like a 21st-century politician. However, I do not believe that is the case. I do not think that is what is happening here at all.

If you examine the situation through the lens of the divide between Jew and Gentile in the first century, it makes sense. Paul is not inconsistent; he is not a hypocrite; he is not compromised in this passage. Why do we know that?

Number two on your outline: Paul understood that culture matters. It was important to him, and it is important to God. This is not just political correctness occurring in this passage. Whether you consider what Paul does to be right or wrong, what we find in Acts 21 can be described as cultural correctness.

Why would Paul do this? Why would he even consent to do what the Jewish Christian leaders at the church in Jerusalem asked him to do? I think one of the answers is found in one of the last letters that Paul wrote before making this journey, specifically his letter to the Corinthians. Turn in your Bibles to First Corinthians, just a couple of books to the right of where you are in Acts. Look at what Paul says in this passage. Remember that while Paul was...

On this third missionary journey, when he wrote this letter to the Corinthians, specifically First Corinthians chapter nine, there were already people saying, "Paul, you're a flip-flopper. You're one way in front of one group of people and another way in front of another group of people. You're one way when you're in the city of Jerusalem and a different way when you're among the Corinthians or the Ephesians."

But notice what he says here in First Corinthians chapter nine, beginning at verse 19. First Corinthians 9:19 states, "For though I am free of all men, I have made myself a servant to all." That word "servant" could also be translated as "minister." Paul made himself a minister to all. Why? That he might win the more.

To the Jews, he became as a Jew, so that he might win Jews. To those who are under the law, that is, Jews who are under the law, he became as one under the law, so that he might win those who are under the law. In verse 21, he continues, "To those who are without the law," meaning Gentiles, "I lived as without the law, not being without the law toward God, but under law toward Christ." Why did he do this? That he might win those who are without the law.

To the weak, he became as weak, that he might win the weak. He stated, "I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some." Notice that about six times in this passage, he says, "that I might win this person" and "win that person." If you're following this logically, you would anticipate that Paul would simply say, "I've become all things to all men that I might win." However, he defines what he means when he says, "that I might save some."

Now this I do for the gospel's sake, that I may be a partaker of it with you. Paul's desire was to see people come to salvation. He knew that the gospel is supracultural. What does that mean? It means it is over culture; it doesn't exist only in one cultural greenhouse, if you will. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever of any culture, of whatever culture, believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Thus, the gospel extends above culture and beyond culture. As an apostle of Jesus Christ, Paul understood this profound truth.

Understood this, he grasped this important truth and principle that needed to be built into the church at the earliest stages. The church should not exist as some national cultural entity in the Middle East that you could only come in contact with if you were there, spoke Hebrew, or understood the lineage of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The gospel is for all people, in all places, and of all languages. It doesn't exist only in Hebrew like Judaism, nor only in Arabic like Islam. It exists among all people at all times and in all places. Therefore, the gospel is supracultural.

As a result, Paul knew he needed to be culturally sensitive. What that means is that you have to understand the gospel and the nature of God—this is theology—so well that you can identify the non-negotiables and where you can be flexible when you come into a different culture. Paul recognized that there are certain things that really don't have any bearing on who God is and what He has done for us. For example, you can go into the culture in Corinth and eat meats sacrificed to idols; it's just not that big a deal.

However, if you are among the people in Israel, there in Jerusalem, you understand that because of their culture, you could never possibly eat meat sacrificed to idols. They would see that as unrighteous and unholy, and they would say you cannot do that. It is such a big deal to that culture that you would decide to give it up. It has no bearing on the kingdom of God or on salvation. Paul tells us in Corinthians and Romans that there is nothing in a meat sacrificed to an idol; it is just not that big a deal among Gentiles, but it was significant among Jews.

Paul sought to be culturally sensitive because he knew that culture matters. He understood that the gospel is bigger than culture. While there are non-negotiables in the gospel regarding the character of God and the way of salvation, there are certain areas that are much less critical and are flexible issues where it is not that big of a deal. Paul could be culturally sensitive and flexible so that, with the gospel, he could influence culture. You see, the gospel is a cultural influencer.

It is a cultural influencer. Where the gospel goes, it changes culture. It causes us to get rid of things that are against the nature and character of God.

Let me give you an example. Several hundred years ago, slavery was a very big deal in the West—a very wicked thing. What was the defining factor that transformed our culture and helped us recognize that we should not be involved in trading human beings, selling them, and owning them? The gospel. The gospel and the dignity that God places upon all humanity in the Scriptures is what changed the culture.

Wherever the gospel goes, it gives rights to all people. It gives rights to women, which you do not see in other cultures. From the Scriptures, we see that all men and women have the same measure of dignity from God. Whether you're black, white, brown, green, or whatever color you may be, we have dignity ascribed to us by God. The gospel influences culture for the better.

While it is not connected to one culture, it has a way of influencing culture wherever it goes. Paul understood that there were things that could be flexible. He understood that there were things that were non-negotiable, and he could not go there. That's why he says in that passage in First Corinthians chapter 9, parenthetically, he mentions not as being without the law toward God. He knows where he cannot yield, as stated in verse 21 of First Corinthians chapter 9, but he is under the law toward Christ.

There were other things that Paul could say we can be flexible in this area. I recognize that some people have a real hard time with this kind of mindset because we live in a culture that has had a Christian undertone, if you will—a Christian foundation. We are told by many people that this nation was founded on a Judeo-Christian cultural mindset and value, and in some respects, that is true.

As we see our culture begin to change—and culture is always changing; it's never static, always dynamic—there is a mindset among Christians that the cultural changes we are seeing are against the gospel of God because they are against what is comfortable for us. That is not necessarily true. We have to be really plugged in to see where the non-negotiables are as they relate to the kingdom of God.

Understanding when culture shifts is important for recognizing how we can be flexible in certain areas and where we cannot be flexible. When you carry the gospel into a culture, there are certain aspects of that culture that you must reject.

For example, in the nation of Israel, one of the things you would have to reject to come under the kingdom culture, the culture of Christ, is the sacrifice for sins at the temple. You cannot continue to offer a sacrifice for sins at the temple and be a Christian. Why? Hebrews chapter 10, verse 26 tells us that there remains no more sacrifice for sins. This is because Jesus is the final sacrifice for sins. Therefore, you cannot go to the temple and offer a sacrifice for sins. This is why the entire book of Hebrews is written, which we will study through at a later date.

There are certain things in a culture that must be rejected in favor of a kingdom culture, in favor of the character of Christ and who God is. However, there are also some things in a culture that can be received. Some aspects of a culture are benign; they are not that big a deal, and we can continue to accept those things and still be Christians. Additionally, there are some elements in a culture that can actually be redeemed and used to bring glory to God and point people to Him. These are what Don Richardson, a friend of ours who has taught here before, calls cultural compasses. They are like residual effects of the glory of God in a culture that already have an orientation towards truth. A Christian can take that and say it points to God, and that is how we will use it—to point people as a witness to Him.

I hope some of these things make sense. I know I am kind of stretching out on a number of different issues here, but let’s look at Acts chapter 21 again. Acts chapter 21, verse 17. Paul is now going up to Jerusalem. He has eight men with him from the churches of Galatia, Macedonia, Greece, and Asia Minor. He has a group of disciples with him from Caesarea, and he has this man who was born in Cyprus and has a home in Jerusalem with him; his name is Manassen.

Now they go up to Jerusalem. In verse 17 of Acts 21, it says, "When we had come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly." The brethren received us gladly. Paul was not worried about connecting.

With the leaders of the church in Jerusalem, they knew who Paul was. Guys like James and the elders of the church in Jerusalem were not concerned about the Apostle Paul. They had spent time with him before; nine years prior to this point, Paul had already been with them in the city of Jerusalem. The brethren, the elders of the church at Jerusalem, received Paul, Luke, Timothy, and others gladly and joyfully. They welcomed Paul, Luke, Aristarchus, Secundus, Gaius, Tychicus, Trophimus, and this Nassen from Cyprus, along with the people from Caesarea.

Even though Paul may have had some ideas that were a little different, and even though Timothy, Luke, and the others with him may have had some cultural tendencies that differed from those of the brethren, the elders of the church in Jerusalem welcomed them with open arms. This is instructive for us because we ought to receive and welcome with open arms those who are believers in Jesus and have put their faith in His name. Even if they may worship differently than we do, partake of communion in a different form or fashion, or speak with an accent or a different language, we need to openly welcome them as they did in the city of Jerusalem. If they name the name of Christ and believe in Him, then we should embrace them joyfully.

On the following day, verse 18 states that Paul went in with us. Luke was there, along with all the other guys with Paul, as they went to meet James and all the elders of the church in Jerusalem. When he had greeted them, he told them in detail about the things God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. This was right near Pentecost; remember, Paul wanted to be in Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost. It was either on the day of Pentecost or just before or just after that they came into the city. If this is A.D. 58, as many Bible teachers believe, it was May 2nd, A.D. 58, when they arrived. Paul took his companions from the Gentile churches he had been ministering to meet with the Jewish Christian leaders of the church in Jerusalem, and James was there. Now, who is this James? We know from previous context...

In the Bible, in Acts chapter 15, and what Paul writes about his visit in Galatians chapter 1, verse 19, indicates that this James is James, the brother of Jesus. Mary and Joseph had children after Mary had been divinely impregnated by God, who placed in her womb the baby that was coming forth, Jesus. After Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph lived for a period of time as husband and wife. Some people believe that Joseph died later on, but they had other children, and one of them was this guy named James.

James was the author of the very first Christian document that we know of, the Book of James. We believe that it was written somewhere between A.D. 46 and 49. James was one of the main leaders of the church in Jerusalem; he was the chief elder, if you will, of the elders. There he was, sitting on this council with other elders, along with Paul, Luke, Timothy, and others. They came in to meet with him, and it says in verse 19 that when Paul had greeted them, he told them in detail the things that God had been doing in the region of Galatia, Asia Minor, Macedonia, and Greece.

The words in the original language, "in detail," mean each and every detail, one by one. What an awesome missions testimony that must have been! Paul the Apostle, with eight living epistles, was there with representatives of the churches that he had planted among the Gentiles. Paul said, "Let me share with you what God has done in Galatia, in Macedonia, in the city of Philippi, or in Corinth down in Greece, in Asia Minor, in Ephesus, and in Philadelphia." Churches had been planted in all these different cities: Smyrna, Pergamon, and many others.

It makes you wonder if Luke, the author of the Book of Acts, wasn't taking notes as Paul was giving this missions testimony, which would later become the Book of Acts that we are reading right now. As Paul declared the wonderful things that God had done, verse 20 of Acts 21 states that when James and the elders of Jerusalem heard it, they did what they could do—the only thing they could do. They glorified the Lord and said to Paul, "There's a problem."

Paul, it's wonderful what you've done and what God has done through you there in Galatia, in Asia Minor, in Greece, and Macedonia. It's awesome! However, there is a problem. Notice they call him "brother." They are not questioning whether or not he's a Christian; they are not questioning him in any way regarding his faith or his practice. They say, "Listen, brother, there's a problem."

You see, brother, how many myriads—an unnumbered mass of people—there are who have believed. Paul, I know God is doing great things in Galatia; He’s doing awesome things in Asia. But God has been doing some great things here in Jerusalem and Judea. There are multitudes, hundreds, maybe thousands, of Jewish individuals who have come to faith in Jerusalem and Judea. These individuals believe in Jesus, but notice this: at the end of verse 20, they are zealous for the law.

Now, it's very interesting to me that James and the other elders of the church in Jerusalem did not speak negatively about this Christian zeal for the law of Moses. They didn't say, "Hey guys, it's really terrible; it's a sad thing that these individuals became Christians and are zealous for the law of Moses." They just accept it as a part of the culture. These individuals have become Christians, and yet they are zealous for the law.

Furthermore, in verse 21, here's the problem: they have been informed about you. There’s a rumor going around about you, and here's the rumor. The rumor is that you, Paul, are teaching the Jews who live outside of Jerusalem and Judea—the Jews who are in Syria, Galatia, or Asia Minor—to forsake Moses. These people are zealous about the law of Moses, and they are being told that you are teaching Jews to forsake Moses and that you are telling them they ought not to circumcise their children. This was obviously a big deal to a Jew because that was their cultural connection, their covenant connection as descendants of Abraham.

So, James says, "Listen, Paul, brother, these guys have heard a terrible rumor about you. They are saying that you are telling Jews not to circumcise their children and basically to cast off all of their cultural connections."

To the customs and traditions, that's what that word "customs" means, of the Jews. Now, was this true? No, this was absolutely not true, and James and the other elders of the church there in Jerusalem knew that this was fallacious. What was being said about Paul was not true.

We know this because when Paul met a young disciple in the city of Lystra, in the region of Galatia, by the name of Timothy, whose mother and grandmother were Jewish but whose father was a Gentile, he took this young half-Gentile, half-Jewish individual and said, "You need to be circumcised." Why? Because you're Jewish; your mother is Jewish. We also know that Paul accepted many of the traditions, customs, feast days, and festivals of Judaism. He observed Passover, as we saw when he was in the city of Philippi, and he returned to Jerusalem to observe Pentecost. His Gentile brothers and sisters throughout Galatia didn’t care about Passover and Pentecost, but Paul did. Why? Because he was culturally Jewish.

I understand this perfectly because a number of years ago, about ten years ago, I was living in Germany. There, at the end of November, we have a holiday that we celebrate, a holiday that I happen to like very much. It's called Thanksgiving. On the last Thursday in November, we gather together as families and enjoy a feast. How many of you like Thanksgiving?

You know what? Germans don’t have Thanksgiving. Pity the Germans; they don’t have Thanksgiving. When we were nearing the end of November in 2004, while I was living in Germany, a whole bunch of American believers at the school where I was teaching, along with Germans, Finns, and French, all kinds of people from all over the place, got together and said, "We need to have a Thanksgiving Day feast." The Germans said, "What in the world are you guys talking about? We don’t celebrate Thanksgiving." They all thought we were crazy.

But you know what? We’re culturally Americans, and whether you’re in America, Germany, Japan, or Singapore, you’re probably going to observe Thanksgiving on the last Thursday in November, even if the other people around you are saying, "We don’t sell turkey." Why? Because you’re culturally American, and so you celebrate that.

Paul celebrated these customs and traditions. What was being said about him was not true, and so there were these Christians in Jerusalem who maintained a zeal for the law.

They were being told that Paul didn't care about culture. Here is one of the important things we need to understand: point number four on your outline. The Christian faith does not destroy culture. You can be a Christian and maintain your native culture—much of it, maybe not everything. There are some things that have to be rejected. The sin offering is one; you cannot partake in that anymore.

The Gentiles who lived in the area of Ephesus could no longer go to the Temple of Diana, Artemis, and engage in the physically immoral practices there because that was against the character and nature of God. They had to reject that part of their culture. However, you can be a Christian and maintain much of your native culture. You can be a Christian and you don't have to start calling Jesus Yeshua, and you don't have to start calling God Yahweh. You don't have to partake of the Passover to be a Christian.

You can be a Christian and still like the Chargers. Maybe real Christians like the Packers, but anyway, the Christian faith does not destroy culture. There are many things in our culture that we maintain even though we're Christians. For the most part, wherever you go, people say you're an American, even though you're a Christian. You can still celebrate Thanksgiving. You can still celebrate Christmas because Christmas points to Jesus. You can redeem that and use it as a witness for Christ, even though it has been commercialized.

The Christian faith does not destroy culture. These new Jewish converts, since Paul's last visit to Jerusalem nine years before this point in time, had been told that Paul had rejected culture. They believed he had fled from the customs of Jerusalem and Judea, that he had abandoned everything he had been raised in, and that he was a turncoat. They thought he was telling other people that they shouldn't be involved in those customs as well. He wasn't sure; he was telling them they didn't need to partake of the sin offering anymore because Jesus is the ultimate sin offering, the once-for-all sin offering.

But Passover and Pentecost—these things Paul no doubt used to point to Jesus as cultural compasses that pointed to Him all along. And so we have this issue, this problem.

How do we handle it? Look at verse 22 of Acts 21. What then? What should we do? There's a problem, Paul. What should we do? These people are going to gather together. The assembly must get together. They will hear that you have come. James and the elders there in the council with Paul say, "Listen, these guys are going to hear that you're here. They're going to gather together, and they're going to have an issue. Therefore, we have a plan."

In verse 23, they say, "Therefore, do what we tell you, for we have four men who have taken a vow. Take them and be purified with them. Pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads, that all may know that the things which are informed concerning you are nothing but the truth. You also walk orderly and keep the law." They say, "Paul, listen, this is what we think you should do. There are four guys in the Christian church there in Jerusalem who are engaged in a vow of consecration to the Lord, most likely what is called a Nazarite vow, as spoken of in Numbers chapter 6."

These guys were Christians, but they had Jewish heritage and were involved in a Jewish traditional vow. Apparently, there is no problem with this. Paul himself, in Acts chapter 18, also observed a vow of consecration as a Christian. He is a Jewish man who shaved his head and observed a vow of consecration, a Nazarite vow. The Nazarite vow was simple: you would consecrate yourself to the Lord and say, "I am holy to the Lord. I am only for Him." You would not partake of any fruit of the vine, which means no grapes, no raisins, and no wine for a period of time. You would allow your hair and your beard to grow for the entire time that you were under this vow. You would come close to no unclean thing because you are holy unto the Lord.

At the end of that vow, when it was all done, you would shave your head as a sign that you are no longer under the vow. You would go to the temple and offer an offering to the Lord of praise. So, these Christians in Jerusalem, James, the brother of Jesus, and the other elders on the council said to Paul, "There are four guys taking this vow. We want you to join them in this vow of consecration. You're going to sponsor them in this vow of consecration. You're going to pay for them to get a haircut, and you're going to pay for them to offer a praise offering to God. You guys are going to go to the temple together, and everybody will know Paul is still culturally Jewish."

Now, isn't there a part of you that says, "No, Paul, don't acquiesce to this. Do not consent to this"? There is a part of us that doesn't like this, and yet...

Paul, what does he do? He says, "Yes, look at verse 25." Notice this is the important part: concerning the Gentiles who believe, these eight guys with you, they don't have to do this. We have written and decided that they should observe no such thing. Why? They're not Jewish; they don't have to observe this.

What should they observe? Well, we've already written about what they should observe back in Acts chapter 15, verse 19. They should not eat meats offered to idols, anything that has blood in it, or anything strangled. They should also abstain from sexual immorality. If you look at these things, three of the four, not including sexual immorality—which is against the character and nature of God's command—were cultural sensitivity issues to Jews.

Paul, in some of his writings, told Gentile Christians living in Gentile regions that it's okay if they eat meat sacrificed to idols. However, if he was around Jews, he would say, "Listen, if it causes your brother to stumble..." Romans chapter 15, verses one and two state, "Bear with the scruples of those weak and not to please yourself for their edification. Don't stumble them unnecessarily."

Look at verse 26, Acts 21. Then Paul took these four men, and on the next day, having been purified with them—which means he went to one of the purification pools outside of the temple and participated in a self-baptism ritual, a Jewish self-baptism ritual—he purified himself with them. They shaved their heads and entered the temple to announce the expiration of the days of their purification, at which time an offering should be made for each of them.

Paul, with these four guys, went into the temple through a Jewish purification practice and offered a praise offering. Wait a minute, I thought he was a Christian released from all these things culturally. Apparently, none of these were in conflict with Christ. Remember, Jesus went to the temple, Jesus prayed at the temple, and Jesus observed the Feast of Dedication and the Feast of Passover. Jesus observed all these culturally Jewish things; none of them were against the faith of Christ.

Well, did it work? Was this cultural sensitivity successful and winsome? Look at verse 27, Acts 21:27. We'll wrap up here. Now, when the seven days were almost ended...

This purification involved the Jews from Asia, specifically in the city of Ephesus, where Paul was ministering. Seeing Paul in the temple stirred up the whole crowd, and they laid hands on him, crying out, "Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against this people, the people of Jerusalem, and against the law and against this place, the temple. Furthermore, he also has brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled the holy place." Parenthetically, they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, whom they supposed Paul had brought into the temple.

All the city was disturbed, and all the people ran together, seized Paul, and dragged him out of the temple. Immediately, the doors were shut. In the moment, it did not appear to be very successful, but I would say in the long run, it is instructive. There is an important lesson here. Although it didn't win all this group of Jews to the faith at that moment, it leaves an important instruction for us.

This situation causes us to ask three final questions as we close.

Number one: Am I colliding with culture? There are certain ways in which the gospel will collide with the culture, such as the consumerism and immorality of our society.

Number two: Am I engaging with culture? If I'm not colliding with culture, it shows me that maybe I'm not engaging the culture with the gospel of Christ.

Number three: Am I influencing culture? Consider the culture of your workplace, the campus you attend, the office you work in, or the construction site you are on. Are you influencing that culture for the glory of God, or does it just look like the rest of the world?

These are challenging things to think about. Yes, there are certain non-negotiables in the faith, and there are areas where we can be flexible. But God, help us to engage and influence the culture, even if it means we collide with it.

Amen. Would you stand with me as we close in prayer?

Father, thank you for your word. Let it be written on our hearts. Transform the way that we live. Help us to honor and glorify you in the world in which we live, that the world may know that you have brought salvation, not just...

To one small subset of people, but to all people, Lord, help us to have a passion and a zeal for Your name and for Your glory in this world. In Jesus' name, Amen.