When Things Go Wrong

Jason Shirk

Acts • Sermon • Submitted 4 months ago • Presented 4 months ago

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Introduction

Prove 13:12 “Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: But when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.”

Have you ever planned a vacation so neatly, everything is perfect? As you wait in anticipation, you can almost feel the excitement. Maybe you are like a little kid on Christmas Eve waiting to get up in the morning so they can open presents. But when you get up in the morning, the car won’t start because the alternator went out.

Or maybe you have opened a bag of Jelly beans and you saw that dark jelly bean in the bottom of the bag. If your like me, you probably thought it was going to be a grape jelly bean which is one of the best flavors, but as you pop it into you mouth, it turns out to be licorice. I know there are some sadistic people out there that really like licorice, but I think it is nasty.

Can you imagine Paul’s disappointment as he gets to Jerusalem? In Rom 15:31 “That I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judaea; and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints;” we see that Paul was worried things might not be accepted by the church. He was concerned that his arrival in Jerusalem would not be as good as he hoped. When he gets there, there is no mention of the offering to the Jewish Church is brought up because of the issue we looked at last week. If I were Paul, I could imagine feeling disappointment that this great blessing had been overshadowed by potential problems among the Jews.

When things go wrong in our lives, we tend to respond in unbiblical ways:

We get depressed

We complain

We get angry

We throw our little temper tantrums- As adults we don’t kick and scream on the floor, but we can lash out, accuse (Why didn’t you turn the lights off in the car), throw things (wife throwing dishes at her husband, Do wives really do this?). So we can lash out or we can retreat.

When things don’t go the way we planned them to, it is important that we respond the way God wants us to. Paul’s hope and expectation didn’t go according to plan. This morning I want to look at how Paul responds when things go wrong in his life.

When good Intentions go bad vs 26

Last week we preached on the events that led up to this verse. Paul goes down to the temple and he follows through with the plan to show the people that he is not against the law, by taking this Nazarite vow. He has shown his love and forbearance. He has been willing to bend over backward to love his fellow Jews. When it comes to this doctrine of forbearance, people always want to ask what the limit is. I cannot give you that answer. Most of the time, the limits people want to impose are selfish considerations. The limit of forbearance is the limit of your love. Maybe the question we should ask instead is how else can I love my brother or sister? Maybe I should lovingly confront something? Maybe I should lovingly teach? But the question is not when should I stop loving them?

The elders of the church want unity. Paul wants unity, but as we see in this section, even our good intentions can sometimes go bad. The irony of this passage is that Paul is bending over backwards to show them respect for the law of Moses and the people still accuse him of disregarding the law. Even extreme love and forbearance will not always win some people over. Some people are always going to be dead set against us no matter what we do. Think of the example of Jesus. Jesus came to his own people and he healed their sick. He cast out demons; He showed love and compassion. He fed the hungry. But according to John 1:11 “He came unto his own, and his own received him not.”

It is at moments like this that we need to remember what true love really is. Love is a selfless concern for others.

Is it really love and forbearance if we quite because we didn’t get the results we wanted out of it? This really shows the authenticity of our love. What it reveals is that we didn’t really do what we did out of love, we did what we did to get something out of it.

Is it really love and forbearance if we quite when things get hard?

Sometimes, we can show all the love in the world, but things will not go the way we anticipated them to go. Our good intentions don’t turn out so well. Things don’t go the way we planned. We decided we were going to do something nice for someone and they took offense over it. We tried to help someone out a problem in their life and they still went back to the same problem later. We thought everyone would love this new idea we had to do something at the church and they all complained about it. What do you do in those moments.

When people have bad intentions vs 27-36

Not all the problems in life come about because of failed plans or unrealized expectations. Sometimes there is a more malicious element to it. Satan doesn’t like what Paul is doing and the Jews don’t like what Paul is doing. They both have bad intentions towards Paul.

Vs 27 As Paul is going to fulfill his vow which included a purification on day 3 and day 7; some Jews from Asia see him. Most likely these are Jews who had seen Paul when he was in Ephesus. Vs 29 indicates that they recognized Trophimus who was from Ephesus. But they had problems with Paul before he showed up in Jerusalem. Bitterness does a lot to stir people up against others. Things of the past creep up that never got resolved. If you entertain those thoughts from the past, you are giving in to bitterness and you are in sin. These Jews had an axe to grind already with Paul and so they incite the crowd.

Vs 28-29 Their accusation against Paul is two-fold:

Paul is teaching against the Jewish people and their religion.

Paul brought a Gentile into the temple- This second accusation according to Luke was based on an assumption. They judged based on appearances. Maybe they had seen Trophimus with Paul earlier in the day and assumed he brought him with when he came into the temple. John 7:24 “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” It is important to get all the facts before going off half calked. Prov 18:13 “He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, It is folly and shame unto him.” According to Josephus, the temple had four pillars around the inner court where Gentiles were not allowed to enter. On these pillar was a threat of death if they entered. The temple was viewed as polluted until the Gentile was killed.

Vs 30-36 The city is emotionally moved to an uproar. A lot of times people will harbor their bitterness because they have an emotional reaction to what they are thinking. Letting the bitterness consume you until every time you think of it, you get a slow burn of anger in your heart or even an outburst will cause you to act unrighteously toward other people. The crowd drags Paul until the Roman tribune who is identified as Claudius Lysias in Acts 23:26 “Claudius Lysias unto the most excellent governor Felix sendeth greeting.” comes and intervenes. The end result is Paul is saved through Claudius main goal was not to save Paul.

The crowd shouts all kinds of answers when he tries to ask what happened. So he has Paul carried away. They have to lift him over their heads because the people begin pressing in to the Roman guards as they carry him away.

The last scene we see of those in the temple in the books of Acts, serves as their own condemnation. Much like the crowd at Jesus crucifixion, they cry Away with him, Away with Him.

Sometimes you can do everything right, and things still don’t work out. Sometimes it is because others were directly trying to thwart your plans. Much like Diotrephes in 3 John 1:9 “I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.” they love themselves and desire to have their way; so they stand in your way. This doesn’t have to be the dramatic events like church splits and divorces. Many people with selfish motives oppose us even in the small things. Someone wants something done their way so they make a point to let it be known that this isn’t what they want. They add extra obstacles in your path and make your life harder. They gossip stirring up more problems. But how do we deal with these situations?

Focus on God’s intentions working behind the scenes vs 37-40

Refocus our Perspective

Paul gives us an example for dealing with disappointment from good intentions that fail and the evil intentions of those who oppose us. We do not see Paul breaking down in worry or lashing out in anger. We do not see Paul retreating into his silence or trying to run away. While it is not stated here, it must be assumed that Paul was focused on God’s good intentions for his life working behind the scenes.

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”

God’s good plans may not be good by our human definitions. After all Paul would eventually die, but not before he got to preach to kings and bring the gospel to the capital of the world. Paul saw his bonds as the hope of Israel. Acts 28:20 “For this cause therefore have I called for you, to see you, and to speak with you: because that for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain.”

So the first thing Paul did when things went wrong in his life was refocus his perspective. Depression, discouragement, worry, anger, withdrawal; these are all issues of life affected by our thinking. In fact, all your emotions are driven by thoughts either active now or ingrained into you by habit. We can choose to be a slave to those emotions and let the world cast us down or we can choose to change the way we think. Change our perspective. See beyond the problems to what God is trying to do in our lives.

Maybe God is trying to use a certain circumstance to give you an opportunity to minister or help others with the same problem. You can’t do this by the way if you don’t handle the problem the way you should because you haven’t learned your own lesson yet. You would be a blind leader of the blind.

Maybe God is trying to work a certain problem out of your life. Those wrong emotional responses, they are sin. Sometimes God brings circumstances into our lives to help us see how our responses are wrong. God is working to mold and to shape you into the image of Christ.

Maybe God brought this hardship into your life because it is the pathway to something better. Sometimes we need to be redirected like a ship.

Maybe God is trying to get you to see that you need him.

Respond with Respect

vs 37 May I speak unto thee- The way this is worded shows respect for the man that he is interacting with. Paul was not above using his status as a Roman to make his defense, but he treated this man with respect. Respect goes along way toward settling situations down. Sometimes when some one comes at us with accusations, we feel the temptation to lash back out at them. This just escalates the situation and makes them angry. Remember my message on the Principles of Communication. One of those principles was that the person who responds sets the tone of the discussion. We can choose to reply gently or in anger. How we respond determines if that discussion is going to blow up. Prov 15:1 “A soft answer turneth away wrath: But grievous words stir up anger.”

Reorganize your Opportunity

Because Paul was focused on God’s hand working behind these events, he could respond to them by looking to see what God wanted him to do. Paul took advantage of his opportunity to do two things:

Aleive the fears of the tribune- According to vs 38 the tribune assumed that Paul was an Egyptian insurrectionist who had led 30,000 people into the wilderness under the reign of Felix. This man threatened and tried to attack the walls of Jerusalem. As he approached the Mount of Olives, the Romans swept in and attacked. He ended up fleeing and hadn’t been caught. So Claudius assumed, Paul was this fugitive. but Paul explains that he is a Roman citizen from a prosperous city and he begs him to let him address the people.

Paul then ends the chapter as he begins to address the people. As we get into this chapter next week, we will see Paul sharing his testimony and the gospel with these people.

Paul did not let bad circumstances put him on the bench. He didn’t retreat into his gloom and resign from serving God. Paul saw beyond his circumstances and he used them as an opportunity to continue to serve God. If none of these things happen by accident, isn’t it fair to ask what God wants you to do in light of these circumstances?

Conclusion

Our response to things going wrong in life is often selfish and sinful. We lash out or we retreat into ourselves. But when things went horribly wrong for Paul that is not how he responded because he could refocus his perspective to see what God was trying to do in his life. Paul didn’t let it beat him down. 2 Cor 4:8-9 “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;” He got up, shook the dust off his cloak and got right back into serving God.

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