Dead Man Walking

Chapter 21

vv.10-14 - a prophet named Agabus comes and gives Paul a visual warning of what awaits him in Jerusalem. Paul's response? Bring it on! That's an amazing attitude. It's like he already had determined that he was going to be martyred for Christ and was just living the rest of his days until that inevitable end. This sounds morbid or sad, but it's actually very freeing and quite biblical. Paul is the one who wrote in Romans 6 that we are dead to ourselves (but alive in Christ). He absolutely adopted this theology and lived everyday like it. Here's a question and an observation: What was the point of Agabus telling Paul this? Seems like a real downer - not very encouraging. Although, I think Paul's response was a real inspiration to the other believers. The observation is that these well-meaning brothers and sisters in Christ attempted to persuade Paul to not do what God had in mind for him all along. Ouch. Isn't it tough enough for Paul to follow God (just the opposition from the Jews was almost overwhelming) without having people on your own team dissuading you?

vv.20-26 - Staying the course? - this implies Paul was backing down on his stand that men are saved by grace and not by observing the law (see Galatians). However, this is not the case. These 4 guys were wanting to take a Nazarite vow (NOT the same as a decision to become a Christ-follower) and Paul was willing to pony up some cash to cover the cost of the sacrifices these guys would have to bring to the Temple as a part of this ritual. In doing so, he would lesson people's objection to him and lower/reduce their perception that he was now turning his back on all things Jewish. This brings up a tricky question for us today? How far should we go to persuade someone who is not a follower of Christ that we are "cool?" There's tremendous pressure to distance ourselves from the kooky televangelists and/or mean-spirited Christians if we're going to be effective sharing our faith. But where is that line? What are the things we will not bend on?

vv.27-29 - Don't confuse us with the facts - Paul gets arrested on charges that he's anti-Jew while he's helping some guys take a Nazarite vow!!! This reminds me of our culture today - we take all of 7 seconds to form strong opinions concerning people, theology, ideology, politics, etc.