Hero's Journey (Acts 21)
Christ the lord is risen today (vs 3 & chorus)
Call to worship:
psalm 67
Pastor Bobby Owens
song:
O church arise
Historical reading:
Apostles creed
pastor Andrew Loginow
song:
Christ or else I die
Confession & pardon:
Pastor brett eckel
song:
Jesus is better
Sermon:
dr. alex loginow
Acts 21
Introduction
“It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.” Indeed it is dangerous business, but Frodo did go out of his door and that’s why we love him. The journey Frodo and the fellowship of the ring were swept off to – it swept us off too. My guess is that if we were to survey the room and ask who has ever read The Lord of the Rings or seen the films at least once, there would be a majority.
J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic was first published July 29, 1954 and is still in print today with over 150 million copies sold. The 3 films won a total of 17 academy awards (among a host of others). In 2003 The Return of the King won all 11 academy awards it was nominated for including best picture. The films are streaming even today on Max, Hulu, Amazon, pretty much everywhere. MJR was recently replaying all 3 films in their theaters.
The Lord of the Rings remains so popular because it is a great story, there’s no doubt, but I suspect that the nature of the story may have something to do with its perpetual popularity, as well. If Frodo hadn’t gone out the door, if he had avoided that dangerous business, if the fellowship of the ring had not been formed, there would have been no hero’s journey and that’s what is so compelling to us – the hero’s journey. We’ve experienced something similar as we’ve journeyed through Acts, especially since the end of chapter 8 when we were 1st introduced to Paul. We have journeyed with Paul from the point we met him – where he was approving of Stephen’s death, he was breathing murder on the church – we have journeyed to this point where Paul declares that he is willing to be imprisoned and even die for the same gospel he himself was persecuting.
Paul’s Journey To Jerusalem
While Paul’s most noteworthy journey is spiritual (Luke writes out Paul’s conversion 3 separate times in the book of Acts), Paul has also been on a physical journey. With the exception of his 3 years of study immediately following his conversion, 3 years he spent in Ephesus, and some other months here and there, Paul has pretty much been traveling the entire time we’ve known him. We are now reading of his 3rd missionary journey, which will be his final missionary journey. The 1st 8 verses of chapter 21 read like the 1st century travel log we’ve become accustom to in Acts. But one thing is clear at this point – Paul has his face set toward Jerusalem. But before he gets there he makes a stop in Caesarea to visit one of the original deacons from Acts 6, Philip.
While at Philip’s home a prophet named Agabus dramatizes his prophecy that if Paul goes to Jerusalem, the Jews will bind him and hand him over to the gentiles. But Paul reminds us how far he’s come on his spiritual journey. He used to imprison Christians but now he is willing to be imprisoned. Paul used to breathe murder on the church but now he is ready even to die for the name of the Lord Jesus.
Paul’s journey then leads him to meet with James, who is the head of the church in Jerusalem where Paul recounts how the gospel has spread among the gentiles. James glorified God for what he was doing among the gentiles but he was also concerned about the Jewish brothers. James counsels Paul to take 4 men to be purified at the temple and to pay their expenses because Paul had a reputation in Jerusalem of teaching the Jews who are among the gentiles (outside Jerusalem) to forsake Moses. What are we to make of passages like this one where James is concerned with Jewish custom and even commands Paul to participate in Jewish custom to not offend Jewish Christians?
How does this align with other passages in Scripture where Paul argues that the gospel is not tied to old covenant rituals? The important thing to remember here is the timeframe of these events. There was about a 40-year span in the 1st century where Jewish Christians believed the gospel by faith but also continued to live in observance of the law. The Jewish epoch and the Christian epoch overlap. It wasn’t until the destruction of the Temple in AD 70 that observance of the law became impossible and the Jewish era ended.
But in the interim Paul submits to James and takes the men to the Temple and in the Temple Paul is arrested. What we’re witnessing is that in many ways Paul is recapitulating the Lord Jesus here at the end of his life. We’ve noted throughout the book of Acts that the author, Luke, feels like he’s rewriting portions of his gospel but with Apostles instead of Jesus – healing the sick, raising the dead, exorcising demons, preaching; everything Christ did in his ministry the Apostles did but now Paul will take that a step further as he will have his own mini-passion leading to his death. Like Jesus Paul’s face was set toward Jerusalem; like Jesus Paul had a sort of cleansing in the Temple; like Jesus Paul was arrested by the Jews and handed over to the gentiles; like Jesus Paul prayed, “Let the will of the Lord be done (vs. 14).”
Jesus’ Journey To Bring The Gospel To The Ends Of The Earth
And that’s the point – it’s not really about Paul; it’s about Jesus Christ. And it’s not merely that Paul is recapitulating Jesus through his ministry, preaching, healing, and death, but that the ascended Lord Jesus from his throne in heaven at the right hand of God the Father almighty is working through Paul. You’ve got to remember that the book of Acts is the sequel to the Gospel of Luke. Luke is telling 1 story from Luke 1 – Acts 28 and that is the story of Jesus’ journey. Jesus may only be physically present in Acts 1 but the other 27 chapters reveal to us how the ascended Lord Jesus is taking his gospel to the ends of the earth through his apostles and his church.
Luke’s story of Jesus’ journey from heaven and back again begins in Luke’s gospel with the incarnation of the Son of God, the 2nd person of the Holy Trinity. Every advent and Christmas season Christians read Luke 2 together, probably the most famous pericope about the incarnation of the Son of God, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. Luke then tells us how Jesus lived a truly human life without sin. Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, experiencing all of the typical human development from conception into manhood but he did it without ever sinning against God in though, word, or deed.
Then Jesus’ ministry began when he was baptized by John and the Holy Spirit descended as a dove and indwelt him and the Father declared Jesus to be his Son. Then the Spirit led Christ out into the wilderness where he was tempted by Satan. It was in the wilderness temptation that Jesus righted Adam’s wrong – Adam was tempted and failed; Jesus was tempted and succeeded. And then through his preaching, through healing, feeding, and exorcising of demons Jesus announced the arrival of the kingdom of God.
But most ultimately Jesus’ mission and journey was leading him to the true and final Mt. Doom – Calvary, for it was there that Jesus was crucified on a Roman cross by both Jews and gentiles. And even though human were the ones who crucified the Son of God it was the Father who poured his wrath out on Jesus to atone for the sins of his elect. The love and justice of God were on full display for his creation in the crucifixion and death of his Son. But Jesus’ journey didn’t end with his death for death was just another path he had to take through burial to resurrection.
And then Luke begins his sequel, Acts, with the ascension of the resurrected Lord Jesus. But before Christ ascended to the right hand of God the Father almighty he declared that the Apostles would be filled with the Holy Spirit, like Jesus was at his baptism, and that they would be his witnesses in Jerusalem, and Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. The remainder of Acts shows us how Jesus, from heaven, is fulfilling that promise through his Apostles and his church. With each baptism of the Spirit in Acts we see the fulfillment of Acts 1.8 – Jerusalem is baptized in Acts 2, the Samaritans in Acts 8, the ends of the earth in Acts 10, and then full circles to the disciples of John, who baptized Christ in Acts 19.
And this is the gospel that still comes to us today at Christ Community Church 2,000 years later. And it is through the gospel alone that God gives the gift of faith. Do you have faith in Christ? There is no more important question you can ever ask yourself.
Do you know that there is 1 true holy creator God and do you know that you have sinned against him and do you know that Jesus lived, died, and resurrected for the forgiveness of sins? Do you assent to this message; do you confess and not deny it? Do you trust that Jesus took the wrath you deserve and gave you his righteousness? If so, you will repent. To repent means to confess your sin and to turn from your sin. Repentance is proof God has given you the gift of faith. It is our prayer that you would repent and believe today.
Our Journey To Follow Jesus
It is through repentance and faith that we join in the journey of Jesus – you might say we join the fellowship. You see, there is a sense in which St. Paul’s recapitulation of Jesus Christ here in Acts is unique in redemptive history. Paul was an Apostle. You are not an Apostle, I am not an Apostle, no one has been an Apostle since John died. The Apostolic office was unique in redemptive history much like the old covenant office of prophet. So as Paul quite literally follows in the footsteps of Jesus in Jerusalem that is not something we are called to do.
But in a much broader sense all Christians follow in the patter of Jesus. Jesus said the call of the gospel is to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Christ (Matt 16.24). We deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow Christ when we repent and believe the good news, not merely the first time but every single day as we practice the spiritual discipline of repenting of our sins and believing the gospel again this day. Paul writes something similar in Romans 12 when he calls us to be a living sacrifice.
The Christian life is a bit of an oxymoron – we live but in a sacrificial manner. We are to be a living sacrifice 1st and foremost to God; trusting and obeying him in thought, word, and deed. But the 2nd part of the greatest commandment is like this where Jesus calls us to love our neighbor as ourselves. We are to take up our cross and deny ourselves in the service of others – this is the pattern of Jesus. This is what Paul did. This is what Christians have done for 2,000 years. And this is what you do, Christ Community Church. Let’s keep doing so for God’s glory and for our good!
Conclusion
We resonate with the hero’s journey because our lives are somewhat of a journey, aren’t they? Regardless of whether you’ve moved a lot or have lived in the same zip code your entire life; regardless of whether you travel a bunch or have never left the state, you journey through life. Regardless of how much space you pass through, you pass through time, you journey through experiences, relationships, through many dangers, toils, and snares.
It’s dangerous business going out your door, indeed. This world is broken in sin. The only way to make it out of this thing alive is to follow the true Lord – the Lord Jesus. Jesus accomplished the true hero’s journey from heaven through the womb of the virgin, through the waters of baptism and through the temptation in the wilderness. He journeyed through death on the cross and burial for 3 days. And he journey through resurrection and ascension back to the right hand of God the Father almighty.
This past week Pastor Kevin was telling me about some counseling he was doing encouraging a brother to persevere – to not quit following Jesus. Pastor Kevin used the illustration that the Christian life is like the journey back from Mt. Doom to the Shire and we’re just trying to bring as many people back with us as we can. That’s because Jesus is the one who took the journey to the mount to destroy evil. He went there and now he’s bringing us back again with him. And our only chance is to follow him. No one is making it out of this journey unscathed, but take heart church, “all’s well that ends better;” and our faith will be made sight at the return of the King.