A Courageous Traveler
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2023 · 19 November 2023
This evening in Acts 21, we continue in the journey of Paul as he concludes his third missionary journey and goes to Jerusalem. Let us look at verses 1 - 6. Paul is a man with tremendous courage. It’s the commitment of Paul who believed in Christ enough to abandon his own self-pleasure. That’s characteristic of all of God’s greatest people throughout biblical revelation.
In Numbers 13 and 14, spies were sent into the land. God said, “That land is for you. Now spy it out.” And they went in, and ten came back and said, “We can’t go into that land; they’re giants over there, and we’re like grasshoppers.” But Joshua and Caleb said, “No problem; let’s go get it.” Formidable cities, massive armies, yet they believed God. They were willing to risk their lives for that.
There was a lady named Deborah in Judges 4. And Deborah believed that God had given the children of Israel a victory. And so, she encouraged the army, said, “Look, the victory’s ours; let’s just go take it.” And they did. And in 1 Samuel 17 that story of a young boy David who had some stones and a slingshot. He said, “It’s only a giant. But God will give the Philistines into our hands.”
David twirled that slingshot around and won a war. And he was willing to stake his life on it. There were three young men in Daniel 3 by the name of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who were willing to stake their life on a spiritual principle that it was proper to worship God and not idols. And they went into a fiery furnace. They were willing to die for what they believed.
And as we’ve studied through Acts, we have been finding out repeatedly that these people had convictions that they were willing to die for. And Paul was one of those people. He was well aware that all the way along, the Holy Spirit kept testifying to him that bonds and afflictions awaited him. But did that stop him? No, because he had conviction and courage to see it through.
Paul had been collecting money to give to the poor believers in Jerusalem. He had collected it from all the Gentile churches. It was one, to show the Gentile churches loved the Jewish church, and to unite the church into one; and two, to meet the practical money needs of the poor saints. He believed God had given him this goal, and this cause, and this objective, and he pursued it.
The Jerusalem church was like a besieged garrison. It was cut off from supplies. It was weary. It had been through famine and persecution, and the power spiritually was being blunted. And he saw the possibility of going and giving them the money, not only to relieve the physical need, but injecting spiritual blood and spiritual energy into this church that was suffering from persecution.
It wasn’t a safe thing to do, because all over the world, the hierarchy of Jerusalem had hated Paul. From place to place they chased and chased him, and tried to kill him. And now he’s going to walk right into the main headquarters of Jerusalem itself. The Holy Spirit kept telling him, in every single city, that bonds and afflictions awaited him. He knew that. But, he was courageous.
He did not worry about the consequences. Now, as we look at Acts 21, we see Paul’s courage where he marched toward those objectives with no thought for anything but meeting them. There are four aspects of his courage. One, know its purpose. Two, can’t be diverted. Three, he’ll pay any price. Four, it affects others. First, let us look at knowing its purpose.
The first factor in expressing courage is you’ve got to believe in an objective or goal. Now, for Joshua and Caleb, they believed that, “God has given us this land.” Right? For Deborah, the purpose was, “God promises victory.” For David, the purpose was, “God wants Israel preserved from the Philistines.” For the three Hebrews, “God does not allow us to worship any other God.
Now Paul was a man who had courage. And before he ever got to Jerusalem, he sat down in Corinth and wrote the book of Romans. He has the money, and with him are the men from each area of the Gentile churches, as well as Luke, who is writing as he goes. Verse 1, “After we tore ourselves away from them, we set sail straight for Cos, the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara.
Verse 2-3, “Finding a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, we boarded and set sail. 3 After we sighted Cyprus, passing to the south of it, we sailed on to Syria and arrived at Tyre, since the ship was to unload its cargo there.” In these three verses, we have a little narrative of the journey they take from Miletus to the coastline of Palestine. But it says that Paul was on a journey toward an objective.
“After we tore ourselves away from them.” These Ephesian elders didn’t want to let him go, and they cried and kissed him. That phrase also is used in Luke 22:41, of our Lord tearing himself away from his disciples in Gethsemane. It speaks of a love bond. Well, they got on the ship. It says, “We set sail.” In nautical terms, they just left in their boat straight for Cos, and from there to Patara.”
Also they sailed along the coast. Patara is not an island but a city on the coast next to the Xanthos river in Asia Minor. It was a place where they would have gotten on to a larger boat in verse 2. And Phoenicia is on the coastline of Palestine. It was large ship because it says at the end of verse 3, that it unloaded its cargo in Tyre. Verse 4 says, “We sought out the disciples and stayed there seven days.”
Now, all we can really get for our spiritual application is again to see that Paul is a man on a mission. He is directly going toward Jerusalem. This meant that he had a little more time that he could spend before the time of Pentecost, and that perhaps is worldly he was tarrying seven days in Tyre and waited till the ship again left Tyre and would sail down the coastline to the port nearer Jerusalem.
Paul accepted the tremendous challenge of giving this gift to the Jerusalem church. What is your objective? The apostle Paul never lived a day of his life that I can find in Scripture when he wasn’t going somewhere to do something. You only get courageous when you get in the game. You don’t have any reason to be courageous; if you’re not doing anything spiritually for Christ.
Philippians 3:10 might serve as a good illustration. “My goal is to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.” My objective is to know through the Bible to know Him. The Bible is the means to the accomplishing my objective. But in order to know Him, I got to know His Word. So that I can illustrate that in my personal life.
You can have a spiritual goal that can become very practical. But what about specifics? Are you willing to pay any price to do that? Sacrifice your own self-will and your own pleasure? Or are you just saying, “Well, I’m just going along, and someday Jesus will come, and I’ll get raptured.” That is not what Paul in the Bible teaches. So first of all, courage knows its purpose.
Secondly, this courage can’t be diverted. There’s an old story, about an old monk who was always saying to the head of the monastery, “I want to be a martyr.” So, finally, the head of the monastery decided, “I’ll just let him get a try at being a martyr.” And they sent him out and put him in a very precarious situation where he was forced to be burned at the stake by some people or recant his faith.
And he recanted his faith. And so, they let him crawl back to the monastery a broken man. You see, your courage has to do with what it takes to divert you. Well, what does it take to divert you? Now, look at Paul. And go back to Acts 21:4, “We sought out the disciples and stayed there seven days. And through the Spirit they told Paul not to go to Jerusalem.”
Now, this isn’t anything new. But they knew there was a church in Tyre. How did that church get started?” Paul didn’t start it himself, but he indirectly did, because it was started out after the persecution of Stephen. Acts 11:19 says that as a result of the persecution and execution of Stephen, the saints were scattered. They scattered into Phoenicia, Cyprus and into Antioch.”
The greatest thing that happened to the Jerusalem church was persecution. It just scattered the preachers all over the place. And the church at Tyre was founded in the overflow of the persecution of Stephen. So, the guy who was the catalyst behind the persecution of Stephen was Saul. So, Paul was good for the growth of the church even before he was saved.
Now, in the early Church, there were many who had the gift of prophesy which was manifested in two ways: One through preaching. In 1 Corinthians 14:3, it’s defined as edification, consolation, and exhortation. Two, the gift of prophesy was also predicting the future. God would speak practical things regarding the life of the Church in a prediction form often through people.
That’s what the phrase “through the Spirit” means. The phrase “through the Spirit” means the exercise of a spiritual gift. Absolute, overpowering love for the Jewish church caused Paul to do what he did. Maybe Paul made a mistake. That makes him human. In the Bible, you’ll find that everybody that God ever used, fouled up. Noah failed after the flood and got drunk.
Abraham denied his wife. Isaac failed due to fleshly lusts. Jacob failed daily. Moses failed and was left out of the Promised Land. David had a terrible blot on his life. And that’s the best that God had. John, the apostle did one of the most materialistic, selfish things in the world when he got his mother to try to get Jesus to give him the chief seat in the heavenly kingdom.
God is in the business of picking up failures. But, I don’t believe that’s true. I don’t believe Paul made a mistake. No, I don’t think he was disobeying the Spirit at all. First of all, his life was lived in sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. Illustration, Acts 16:6, “when they had gone through Phrygia, and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the Word in Asia.”
Verse 7, “When they were come to Mysia, they attempted to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit allowed them not.” They didn’t go there either. “In a vision appeared to Paul at night a man of Macedonia, beseeching him, saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” After he had seen the vision, immediately he endeavored to go to Macedonia. This man lived his life in sensitivity to the Holy Spirit.
Notice Acts 20:23, “Except the Holy Spirit witnesses in every city, saying bonds and afflictions await me.” The Holy Spirit says, “When you get there, this is what’s going to happen.” The Holy Spirit knew he was going. It’s the Holy Spirit that sent him there, and it was a case not of prohibition, but of preparation. This wasn’t his own plan. He says, “I don’t care what’s going to happen in Jerusalem.”
I’m going to finish this thing that Jesus has given me to do.” His motives were right all the way. It was his human spirit under the control of the Holy Spirit. I think they’re both there. But suffering was to be expected. Why? Because in Acts 9:16, Ananias came to him and said, “The Lord has instructed me to show you and tell you about the things which you are going to have to suffer.”
And Paul gives no indication that he thought he had sinned, that is good evidence. After he finally arrives in Jerusalem, and he’s got to give testimony to the Jerusalem hierarchy, and in Acts 23:1 he says, “Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin and said, “Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience to this day.” You can’t be disobedient and not feel it.
The message the Holy Spirit was giving him was this. Paul, don’t go unless you’re willing to suffer what’s going to happen. And he was. And it was natural that his friends, who by prophetic spirit could foretell his pain, would try to talk him out of going. But Paul had no concern for safety, only for service. And he’s like Jesus, who set his face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem. It can’t be diverted.
The disciples at Tyre were not old friends of Paul. But look what happened. Verse 5-6, “When our time had come to an end, we left to continue our journey, while all of them, with their wives and children, accompanied us out of the city. After kneeling down on the beach to pray, 6 we said farewell to one another and boarded the ship, and they returned home.” That custom of accompanying someone going on a trip.
“After kneeling down on the beach to pray.” Can’t you see the beauty of that prayer meeting? And this is with new friends. There is one thing about Christianity, it doesn’t take long, to make a sweet fellowship. And so, in the city of Tyre, we see the fact that Paul could not be diverted. Even these dear, beloved Christian brothers and sisters, could never divert him from his objective.
We thank you for the testimony of this dear Paul, who was willing to pay the supreme price of his life for what he believed in. God, give us Christians like that. Help us each to be like that. Help me to be like that. Help us to be willing to go wherever You send us, to do whatever You lay upon our heart, whatever the cost, whatever the price, and never be diverted. Let us pray.