All are (still) Welcome!

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Acts 21:1-26

Context + background
  • because of chapter 21, our current church system means that anyone can be a member as long as you believe in Christ
  • this could have been very different if chapter 21 didn't exist
  • for a gentile to be a member, they needed to be become a Jew (circumsized)

v1--3)
  • they warn Paul that if he goes to Jerusalem he will die

v4-6)
  • but Paul says he's going anyway

v7-14)
  • Paul is warned that if he goes, he will die in Jerusalem
  • Eventually they bless Paul and send him off

v19-20)
  • Paul meets up with others and discuss things
  • Paul shares what God had done among gentiles and they praised God
  • Paul is telling Jews not to be Jewish anymore, and instead to have their identity in Christ and not their pride in being Jews 
  • He is telling them to stop living according the customs and traditions

v20-24)
  • Paul is told to show he is still a Jew by performing the traditions once again

v26) 
  • the church will accept anyone even gentiles - Paul has finished his mission
  • He has taken the gospel to the gentiles

Application:
  • Paul is striving to keep the fact that Jesus + nothing = everything 
  • Paul is used by God, and it doesn't make sense for us to challenge what he says
  • We must not take the gospel of grace for granted (look at how hard it was for some gentiles to hear)
  • We are not natural Christians. Our welcome to God didn't come cheaply - it cost his only son so that us gentile Christians can believe and become God's people
  • The gospel will govern and guide our money, time and thoughts
  • If we understand the gospel then it impacts and controls how we live
  • Spend 30 seconds per day and reflect on the truth that what we deserve, we don't get and we don't deserve, we get - because Christ died for me.
  • Let that thought - that God died for me - control our lives. We GET to love God.



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