Acts 21:1-14 - Homiletics

The steadfast purpose.

One of the most difficult problems of practical life is to know what are the fixed points on which we must not give way, and to which all other considerations must yield, and what are the points which may be yielded under the pressure of conflicting circumstances. A man may be very conscientious, and yet most grievously mistaken, if by his obstinacy on indifferent matters he imperils or defeats great and important results which are incompatible with those smaller matters on which he insists. And again, a man may be very conscientious, and yet may do much practical mischief if he weakly gives way on vital points on which he ought to insist with inflexible steadfastness of purpose. Moreover, without steadfastness and persistence of purpose a man's course is so vacillating as to be practically useless. He is ever beginning and never finishing; starting on his course and never reaching the end of it; wasting time and energy on purposes which are never fulfilled; incapable of joint action because he can never be depended upon—not from insincerity and falseness. but merely from weakness and instability of will and infirmity of judgment. It is a very important function of true wisdom in the practical business of life to discern clearly what are the purposes that ought to yield to the pressure of adverse circumstances, and what are those that must be carried out to their end at all risks and at any cost; and it is the true test of manliness and Christian principle to adhere to these last in spite of the persuasions of friends or the vituperation of enemies. The section before us contains the successive steps by which St. Paul carried out the purpose which he had formed of going to Jerusalem and arriving there in time for the Feast of Pentecost. The first distinct announcement of this purpose is made in Acts 20:16 , but it had probably been formed before he left Corinth, as related in Acts 20:3 . What were the exact reasons for it we are left to gather from scattered and incidental notices. It seems to have been connected with his deep love for the Jewish nation ( Romans 9:1-5 ), and with the hope to which he clung that, by patience and continuance in well doing, he should eventually overcome their obduracy of heart and win them to the faith of the gospel. The line which he had marked out for himself was to show himself a true Jew in all things; to respect the Law and the observances of the temple and the customs connected with it; and to bind all the Gentile Churches to the mother Church of Jerusalem in bonds of filial love, of which the offerings collected from the Gentile converts and sent to the poor saints at Jerusalem were the token and the result. In this spirit he came up to Jerusalem "for to worship" ( Acts 24:11 ); in this spirit he brought "alms to his nation and offerings" ( Acts 24:17 ); and in this spirit he purified himself and entered into the temple ( Acts 24:18 ). If his hope was by these means to win his countrymen to Christ, and bring about the predicted salvation of all Israel, this was a purpose to which all else must yield. And so when the " Holy Ghost witnessed in every city that bonds and imprisonment abode him at Jerusalem," when he was warned by prophetic voices at Tyre and at Caesarea that every onward step was bringing him nearer to some great affliction, he never flinched one moment from his purpose, but went forward with a willing mind that "the will of the Lord might be done." Being deeply convinced, probably by the constraining voice of the Holy Ghost within him ( Acts 20:22 ), that it was the will of God that he should go to Jerusalem, and there witness to the Name of the Lord Jesus, he went, not careful whether he were going to bonds or to death; he went, neither yielding to fear nor allowing his will to be broken by the tears and entreaties of those whom he loved best; he went, to accomplish in prison, and at last under the tyrant's sword, the noblest mission that was ever committed to a son of man, and to win for himself a crown which will surely be one of the most bright and glorious that will glitter in the kingdom of heaven. And in doing so he has left us the priceless example of a steadfast purpose.