What to do When Things go Wrong Part 1

Pastor Mike will be speaking on What to do When Things go Wrong Part 1. He will be reading out of Acts 21:17-40

Don’t draw the line where the bible doesn’t draw the line. You may disagree with it. It may not be your preference, but that’s okay because there is diversity in the family of God and we gotta recognize he is reaching people for the glory of God so that people will be saved. Hello. This is pastor Mike Sanders from the Open Door Church, and thank you for being a part of today’s program.

We’ve been tracking through the book of Acts, chapter by chapter, verse by verse. It takes a long time, but we believe that it is God’s way of teaching us the full counsel of his word. So today, we’re in Acts 21 verse one through 16, and we’re learning how to develop courage in your heart. So let’s get into this study. This morning, I want you to turn to Acts chapter 21, and we want to get back on track.

And I wanna talk to you this morning out of chapter 21 about what to do when things go wrong. What to do when things go wrong. Now I know that some of you probably feel that you know, maybe the pastor’s losing it, maybe he he seems to be redundant or repetitive, but I always want you to know every Sunday, you know, I have visitors, so we always try to bring them in the loop, and it’s important for me as a pastor to make sure everybody is in context. Because in Acts chapter 22, it’s not like it’s just a bunch of proverbs that are given to us and then we’re to apply them to our lives, but rather we have a narration by Luke under the inspiration of the spirit of God, and he is articulating to us the travels of the apostle. And we know and understand that he has finished his third missionary journey and that he is headed to Jerusalem.

When we come to verse 17 of chapter 21, we find that the apostle is there. He has finally made it to Jerusalem. Look at verse 17 of chapter 21. And when we had come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly. Now when the apostle had written to the church in Rome, he had requested that they would pray for him.

In chapter 15 of Romans verse 30 through 31, he said, now I urge you brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the love of the spirit to strive together with me in your prayers, to God for me, that I may be rescued from those who are disobedient in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may prove acceptable to the saints. Why was the apostle so concerned as to how he would be received in Jerusalem? Because he knew that first of all, there had been a little bit of a division in the church which was manifested back in acts chapter 15. In that there were the believers who had come out of Judaism, Jewish believers who had put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ, but you know that the gospel had gone farther than just Jerusalem. It went to Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the world.

And so now not only are Jewish people coming to Christ, but people from all ethnicities and all walks of life are coming to Jesus Christ. And so the question is, do we still have to follow these Jewish customs? Do we have to follow these traditions? You know in acts 15 that the apostles had come together for a conference, and that they had concluded that the traditions and the customs and the ceremonies that the Jewish believers were still following would not be opposed upon the new believers who had no background in that nor understood Judaism, but that they were called to simply love Judaism, but that they were called to simply love God and to live for Christ, remember the poor, and to be careful that they would not be offensive to others in how they conducted their lives. This is all laid out in Acts chapter 15.

So in Paul’s attempt to make sure that the church from all different walks of life and ethnicities, that they would be united together. He wants the Jewish church, the church in Jerusalem, to understand that the church in general is united. They are loved by each other. And so he has received a love offering. He is taking it to the church in Jerusalem because they are going through a famine.

And people are losing jobs and struggling to feed their families, and so other churches have collected love offerings, and they’re sending it to Jerusalem. The apostle and his team are responsible for transporting these resources to the church at Jerusalem. He says to the church at Rome, please pray that they will accept my service, my ministry, the gifts from the church. Please pray for that. And what do we find?

We see the answer to this prayer in Romans chapter 15. In Acts chapter 17, and when he had come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us what, church? Gladly. Now you gotta have more than one person awake today, but listen to me. How did they receive them?

Gladly. Gladly. Isn’t that a blessing? That’s a blessing that the church received them gladly. This is what the apostle was desiring, and this is what he wants to see happen.

And so as he comes to the church, he begins to give them a report of how God is working. Now we’re going to see that the apostle’s gonna face some tremendous adversity in the midst of this all the way to the end of the chapter. We’re not gonna be able to read every verse just because we don’t have the time unless you’d like to spend five hours with me, but that’s okay. I won’t take it personal. But I want you to learn three things this morning on what to do when things go wrong in your life.

And the first is that we must stay focused on the big picture. It’s easy to lose sight of the big picture. As we mentioned to you, the apostle is wanting to show solidarity. He is wanting to help the church from different walks of life that they are all united under the banner of Jesus Christ. Not the banner of a particular skin color or the banner of ethnicity or a race, but rather they are united under the banner of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.

So the Bible shows us here that there is at the outset this great celebration. Look at verse 18. On the following day, Paul went in with us to James, who was the leader, the pastor at the church in Jerusalem, and all the elders were present. Verse 19, when he had greeted them, he told in detail, that is Paul is telling in detail, those things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. When they heard it, what did they do?

The Bible says they glorified the Lord. And they said to him, you see brother how many myriads of Jews there are who have believed and they are all zealous for the law. What he is saying is this, is that Paul shares and he says, man, look how many people are coming to Christ and look what God is doing in the churches that have been started and I just wanna update you and I wanna give you this report. And they said, man, that is so wonderful, Paul, and we’re gonna praise God and give God glory for what he’s doing, but let us tell you what he’s doing right here in Jerusalem. He’s also reaching thousands of Jewish people, thousands who are coming to Christ, and they are having this celebration, and they’re rejoicing together.

And what you see here is that they as believers are not getting caught up in the details and the preferences and the differences, but rather they’re flying under that banner, the banner of Jesus Christ and saving souls. And they’re saying, hey, let’s rejoice together because God is working around the world and he is touching lives and he’s bringing people to Christ. So they’re celebrating. Then we come to verse 21. And there is that word but, which means in contrast referring to the Jewish believers, they have been informed about you.

There are rumors flying around about you, Paul, and that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children nor walk according to the customs. What then? The assembly must certainly meet for they will hear that you have come. So there’s this dilemma. Hey, Paul.

There are people who struggle because of the fact that you are out there winning people to Christ and you’re winning the gentiles, but there is this rumor that you’re telling the Jewish people to forsake Moses, to forsake the customs, to forsake the traditions. And Paul realizes what is another attempt by the devil to divide the church, to divide the church. And so as they’re meeting together as leaders, they come up with a solution. And they said, Paul, we want you to take on a Nazarite vow. This is all in verse 23 and verse twenty four and twenty five.

So Paul agrees that he’ll take on this Nazarite vow so that he can show the believing Jewish people as well as the unbelieving Jewish people that he is not against the Old Testament. He is not against Moses, but he is very much supportive of all of God’s word and all of God’s prophets and all of God’s teachers, and that he is in alignment with them. And that’s what’s happening, is that Paul is focusing on the big picture. It’s easy for us as believers to get distracted on details, to get distracted on preferences, to get distracted on personalities, to get distracted on politics, and allow these little things in this life to divide us as believers when God wants us to be united rejoicing and celebrating and giving glory to him because people are being saved. Now what we see in first Corinthians chapter nine in verse 20 is that Paul makes the principle of why he would do this.

Listen to what he says. To the Jews, I became as a Jew. In order to what? Win Jews. To those under the law, I became as one under the law, though not being myself under the law that I might win those under the law.

So what you’re gonna read next as you take time because we can’t do it all today is that the apostle takes on this Nazarite vow and he is willing to do it to show and demonstrate that he understands, he relates, and he wants to connect with the Jewish people and help them to know that the gospel is true. And so through his act, through his act of being willing to take on this Nazarite vow, he relieves or alleviates the tensions, and he begins to show unity in the church of Christ. Now one of the things you’re gonna learn as a believer, if you haven’t already learned yet, is that Christians do not always agree with each other. Can God’s people say amen? How about that?

Well, that’s a shocker. Christians don’t always agree with one another. But you see, God does not want us to focus on our differences. He wants us to focus on what we are united about. What I’m saying is that when you’re going through tough times in your life, when things seem to be going wrong, one of the things is get back to the main thing, To get back to the big picture.

Not to allow the devil to distract the unity of Christ, the body of Christ, the fellowship of Christ. Now sometimes, we all have different opinions and we say, well we think you ought to do this or we think you ought not to do that, and we have all these lists of things, what I call the do’s and don’ts of Christianity. And you know, the Pharisees were like that. They had more rules than even the bible had. I tell people I’m just trying to keep up with the top 10, amen?

Just trying to keep up with the top 10, but some people have they have 20, they have 50, they have a hundred. The Pharisees had over 600 rules on top of the Bible. How about that? 600. Some of you say, well that’s nothing, my mother had over 700.

That’s fine. I wanna teach you a valuable principle as a Christian, is that you need to learn to draw the line where the bible draws the line, but don’t draw the line where the bible doesn’t draw the line. Don’t draw the line where the bible doesn’t draw the line. You may disagree with it. It may not be your style.

It might not be your way. It may not be your preference. It may not be your opinion, but that’s okay because there is diversity in the family of God and we gotta recognize that God is working in different cultures, different groups, and he is reaching people for the glory of God so that people will be saved. What works in America doesn’t always work in another country. What works in Franklin County, Pennsylvania doesn’t always work in another state.

How about that one? Yeah. I pastored two churches, one in Indiana and here, and the things that work there, I tried them here and they all fell flat because people are different wherever you go. You ever thought that one out? So what do we do when we disagree?

I wanna give you four questions to ask yourself. When you disagree with someone or you’re trying to figure out what’s right or wrong, here are four questions for you to consider. All these questions come out of first Corinthians chapter eight, they’re principles that are taught in first Corinthians chapter eight, and in that chapter the believers were divided over whether they should eat meat that is offered to idols. They were divided about that. The Jewish believers said, absolutely not.

We’re not gonna eat meat offered to idols. The gentile believers said, it’s no big deal. The meat’s cheaper and it tastes pretty good and it came off the grill and we’re gonna consume us some good country steak. Amen? What was causing division in the church?

You say, well pastor, we’re not worried about that, I know. But see, some in the church they ask me, well pastor, what do you think about boycotting this store or boycotting that store? What do you think about all that pastor? You know what I tell people? I don’t boycott.

Now that’s Mike Sanders. There’s nothing in the bible that says boycott Target. Did you know that? There’s nothing in the bible that says boycott Starbucks. There’s nothing in the bible that says boycott whatever store you’re thinking about.

But yet for some Christians, that’s important. I want to lay out for you some guiding principles to help you relate and understand. Because the reason I don’t boycott is because I think I’m gonna end up boycotting everybody, I’m gonna live on an island by myself and nobody is gonna come see me and I’m gonna be by myself and I can’t handle that. Amen? I mean, when are we gonna stop boycotting?

And where does it start? You know, I go over here and I use this and, uh-oh, it’s connected five generations back to something that I don’t like. You know, I told you church one time, one lady, she challenged me on this, she was upset that I said that, and I showed her and proved it to her, but the point being is this, that you know that the tie, the tie, you know people used to wear ties in church, you ever heard of that? Tallon did. Tallon’s got a nice tie.

He’s looking better than the pastor this morning. How about that? But did you know the tie originated? People wore them to keep evil spirits away. And yet if I don’t wear a tie, you know, there’s gonna be a few of you just upset.

They can’t believe the pastor’s not wearing a tie today. Now some of you, you gave up the battle a long time ago. You’re okay with it. Alright? But here’s what I’m saying.

Maybe we ought to boycott ties. You know what I’m saying? We ought to boycott ties because they were connected to evil spirits. And some of you are saying, Amen, let’s get rid of the tie. You know what I’m saying?

You just, you know, you go All of a sudden everything’s connected to something that you don’t like. How about that? But let me give you some principles that’ll help you when you’re trying to make a decision on what should I do this or not do this, and it’s not spelled out in the Bible, but how do I make good decisions? The first question, Let me tell you what I mean by that is that some people think that Let me tell you what I mean by that is that some people think that the society sins are worse than their sins. Have you ever met people like that?

They’re self righteous, and they like to point out everybody else’s problems and everybody else’s sin, but they got their own issues they need to deal with. Right? Jesus said, before you take care of the speck in somebody else’s eye, why don’t you take care of the beam that’s hanging out your own eye? Hello? Hello?

And so you’re all worried about this and you’re all worried about that and you’re all worried about society’s ills. Let me say something to you, whatever decision you make is between you and God, it’s up to you. Make sure it doesn’t lead you to think you’re better and that you’re somehow above others. The ground is level at the foot of the cross. And the truth is we’re all sinners in need of a savior.

And we all need the gospel and we all need God’s work in our heart and we all need that so we can’t get to that point where we think we’re above and better than others so I don’t wanna be spiritually prideful. If this decision is gonna make me look down upon others and it’s gonna cause me to think I’m better than others, then I’m out. The second question, are we setting the right example to others? Now there may be many things that we can do as believers. Paul didn’t have to go get a Nazarite vow, he didn’t have to shave his head and take on this Nazarite vow, but he wanted to reach people.

He wanted to be an example to the new believers in Judaism. Does that mean you need to take on the Nazarite vow? No. I mean it might help some of you by the way. Some of you need a nice good clean haircut, amen?

You say, Pastor, why are you worried about our hair? Because I don’t have any and so I gotta pick on something, right? I’m just teasing. But he took the Nazarite vow. Sometimes in life, there are things I do or things I don’t do because I want to be an example to other believers.

I wanna be an example to the young people. I wanna be an example to the children. I wanna be an example to the students up at Cumberland Valley Christian School. And I’ll give you an example that Terry and I, we abstain from alcohol. I don’t want to be that guy who is taking down some alcohol and a little kid walks in and say, there’s pastor Mike.

He’s he’s drinking, whatever alcohol is out there. Right? Now I’m not telling you what to do. I’m telling you what Mike does because I wanna be an example to my responsibilities and roles here as a pastor. A third question, will I cause someone else to stumble?

In my decision making, will I cause someone else to stumble in their faith? Yeah. I know it’s not wrong and I know you can do this, and I know there’s nothing in the Bible about it. But will it cause someone else to stumble? Paul says to the believers, listen, if eating meat offered to an idol causes someone to stumble in their faith when I’m around them, I just won’t do it.

You say, is that a duplicit life? Is that a double standard? No. He’s just saying, I don’t wanna be a stumbling block. You see, we have choices in life, and you can either be a stepping stone or you can be a stumbling block.

You have to choose and every decision is a result of that. And so as you mature in your faith, as you get stronger in your faith, you begin to make decisions that you’re saying to yourself, is this a stumbling block to other people? When you become a parent, you say, well, I better not do that because, you know, I don’t want my kids to start, you know, like some of the things you guys say. Though some of the ways you talk, these little kids, have you noticed these little kids? They repeat everything you say.

Right? Somebody cuts you off in the road and you start yelling at them as if they can hear you through the car window, and you’re yelling at them and the next thing you know, your little guy is repeating exactly what you said. You see? Are you a stumbling block or a stepping stone? You have to ask yourself that.

Here’s the last question, am I building others up in their faith? You see, the apostle says this and he makes a quote. He quotes a famous poet or philosopher of that day, all things are lawful, but not all things are edifying. Not all things are helpful. Not all things are helpful.

Is this helping? Is this building other people up? Or is it tearing them down? So as I walk through the process of making decisions, should I do this or should I not do that? Listen, my friends, these are the questions I ask myself to help make a godly decision, an honorable decision, a mature decision.

But I always feel like this, that when the decision is made again, remember what I taught you, that you draw the line where the Bible draws the line. No if, ands, or buts. Pastor’s not backing down. But where the bible doesn’t draw the line, don’t draw the line. How do you make a decision?

Use those four questions to guide you in making the decision of what you believe is best. Stay focused on the big picture. Do not participate in creating more division. Do not participate in trying to cause more harm in the family of God, but always stay focused on what can we do. And even if it means to sacrifice our own preferences and our own opinions, that we do what we can so we can reach more people for the lord Jesus Christ.

That’s what you see taking place in chapter 21 verse 17 all the way through verse 26. Now the second thing I want you to learn is that you have to trust God in the uncertainty of life. In verse 27, let’s just pick up there of chapter 21. Now when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews from Asia seeing him in the temple, that is they saw Paul, the apostle in the temple, they 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 the people, the law, and this place.

And furthermore, he has also brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled his holy place. Again, none of these are true. None of these accusations are true, but here is Paul in the midst of a riot. He is in the midst of dealing with something that has been incited by others and false reports that are circulating and agitators who are trying to stir up problems, and they are trying to cause people to turn against the apostle. And here we see that he goes through these difficulties.

We jump down to verse 30, the Bible says in chapter 21, and all the city was disturbed and the people ran together, seized Paul. They dragged him out of the temple and immediately the doors were shut. Now as they were seeking to kill him, news came to the commander of the garrison that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. He immediately took soldiers and centurions and he ran down to them, and when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. So what’s the apostle going through?

He’s going through persecution. He’s going through physically people are punishing him for what they believe that he is doing, and they are trying to cause problems. And here, the apostle for just simply trying to be a blessing to the church at Jerusalem and simply taking on a vow so that he could reach more Jewish people, he is being beat up. He’s being maligned. He’s being mischaracterized.

He is being persecuted. That’s what’s going on. Because Satan has one plan and that is to destroy the work of God. He wants to damn every soul. He wants to make sure that people do not go to heaven, but that they go to hell.

He wants to drag people there and he wants to cause as much chaos in this world as he can. Jesus reminds us that part of the signs of the times in the midst before the coming of his return to this earth, he said to his disciples, then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted and shall kill you and you shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. Some of you are trying to figure out what’s going on in this world. Friends, we we are moving quickly to the return of Jesus. And let me tell you, it’s not gonna get better.

It’s gonna get worse. You say, how do you know? Because I just read the words of Christ. You are witnessing, and I want you to note something. This stood out to me in my studies.

He said, you’ll be hated of all nations. Not just certain, but all nations. Every nation on this planet is going to hate Christians, hate believers. We’re gonna find out who the true Christians are when it cost you, when you have to suffer for the cause of Christ, when you have to stand up for the cause of Christ and people are pushing back on you and they’re trying to create havoc and chaos in your life just because you believe in the lord Jesus Christ, then my friends, that is going to thin out the crowd, and we’re gonna find out who truly loves the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen?

It will. It definitely will. But these are the signs of the times. The apostle reminded Timothy, the young pastor, he said, indeed, all who want to live a godly way in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Well, the apostle Paul is on his way to Jerusalem, and we see that he’s in this missionary journey, and he is determined to finish the task and finish the calling of what God has called him to do.

As we go through this passage, we see that the apostle demonstrates to us a tremendous amount of courage. And so I want us to learn from this narrative of verses on how you and I can show courage in the days ahead. So I hope that what you’re learning, you’re taking notes, and that you’re taking advantage of these wonderful principles. Now, we want you to know that we offer a devotion every day. Yes.

It can come straight to your email. If you go to hopeworthhaving.com, sign up for our devotions, and you can get a daily devotion that’ll be an encouragement to your life, and it’ll continue to challenge you in your walk with Christ. And I know it’ll be a blessing to you. So sign up for our devotions. I know you’ll be encouraged through those.

This is pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ, there is hope worth having.