Crowd Pleaser

Sometimes you just have to prove yourself to the world.

After these days we got ready and started to go up to Jerusalem. Some of the disciples from Caesarea also came along and brought us to the house of Mnason of Cyprus, an early disciple, with whom we were to stay. When we arrived in Jerusalem, the brothers welcomed us warmly. The next day Paul went with us to visit James; and all the elders were present. After greeting them, he related one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. When they heard it, they praised God. Then they said to him, ‘You see, brother, how many thousands of believers there are among the Jews, and they are all zealous for the law. They have been told about you that you teach all the Jews living among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, and that you tell them not to circumcise their children or observe the customs. What then is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. So do what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow. Join these men, go through the rite of purification with them, and pay for the shaving of their heads. Thus all will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you yourself observe and guard the law. But as for the Gentiles who have become believers, we have sent a letter with our judgement that they should abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication.’ Then Paul took the men, and the next day, having purified himself, he entered the temple with them, making public the completion of the days of purification when the sacrifice would be made for each of them. - Acts 21:15-26

Paul had been doing good things, bringing many Gentiles to Christ.  But his own people didn't understand.  They thought he was teaching people to disobey the law.

So, to prove he was still faithful, he had to purify himself.

I'm not sure I would have done that.  I have a tendency to get angry if I am told I have to prove myself, especially if I believe I am already doing the right things.

But Paul put his mission above his pride and did what James and the others wanted.

That is really the message here, isn't it?  When the work we are doing is so important, we will do what it takes to keep it going.

Paul may have been pleasing the crowd, but he was also getting support for his ministry, bringing the Gentiles into the fold.

It worked. Today, millions are believers who might never have heard about Jesus because of what Paul started.

So, maybe it isn't so bad to please the crowd once in a while.

More to come...