Go Easy on Other People’s Cargo

Posted on October 27, 2023 by russellmckinney

But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. But the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up. Then the mariners were afraid; and every man cried to his god, and they threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten the load. (Jonah 1:3-5, N.K.J.V.)

I once heard James Merritt, the pastor of Cross Pointe Church in Duluth, Georgia, preach a sermon on Jonah entitled “The Fugitive.” I’ve heard a lot of preaching from the book of Jonah, read a lot of commentaries on the book, and preached through the book myself, but Merritt brought out a certain point that I’d never considered. He noted that the ship upon which Jonah fled to Tarshish was a cargo ship, and when God sent the windstorm to strike the ship, one of the first things the sailors did was throw all the cargo overboard in an attempt to keep the ship from sinking. It was only after losing that cargo that they figured out that Jonah was the cause of the storm and reluctantly obliged when he told them to throw him overboard to calm the sea (Jonah 1:12).

Merritt’s point was that losing an entire cargo haul hit those sailors where it hurt: right in the wallet. Those men had their livelihoods tied up in those goods they were transporting, and cargo ships don’t get paid to unload nothing at the docks. Consequently, even though the windstorm immediately subsided as soon as they threw Jonah overboard, it’s not like those men sailed on to Tarshish unscathed. No, when Jonah forsook God’s will and ran off to do something else, those sailors got hurt by his actions. They got caught in the ugly backwash of his mess.

This is how it always works when someone refuses to do God’s will. Not only does the disobedient individual get hurt, other people get hurt as well. So, Jonah, are you being tempted right now to run from God’s will and head off to some Tarshish of your own choosing? Well, just know that somebody somewhere, perhaps someone you wouldn’t even begin to consider as you are making your decision, will get hurt by your disobedience. You see, life is such that we are all intertwined enough that our actions, either good or bad, affect others either positively or negatively. And that’s just one more reason for each of us to always do God’s will in every situation.

Posted in Backsliding, Choices, Confession, Decisions, Disobedience, Doing Good, God's Will, Influence, Obedience, Rebellion, Repentance, Temptation | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

A Plea for Courtesy

Posted on October 25, 2023 by russellmckinney

Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous. (1 Peter 3:8, N.K.J.V., emphasis mine)

I want to use this post to address a problem that I believe has reached epidemic proportions in our society. That problem is the basic lack of common courtesy that seems to mark about half the things people do these days. I’m telling you, on a list of my pet peeves, this one ranks very high.

I really couldn’t begin to name all the examples where this lack of courtesy is exhibited, but let me start with three simple ones from the realm of communication. #1: If a person calls you and wants a return call, call them back. #2: If a person sends you a text that requires a reply, send a reply. #3: If a person sends you an email that needs a response, email them a response. C’mon people, this isn’t that hard.

And, please, don’t come to me with that worn out, lame excuse, “Well, I just got so busy.” Listen, we’re all busy. Stop being so arrogant as to think that you are busier than the person you are ignoring. You aren’t so busy that you can’t take a minute or two and return a phone call, a text, or an email. Trust me, if you make such returns a priority, you’ll be amazed at how you can find time to do them.

As another prime example of the problem that I’m describing, let tell you about something that happened to me one fall during high school football. My son, Ryan, was a freshman playing on our local school’s j.v. team, and one afternoon I went to pick him up at practice, which was supposed to be over at 7:00. So, I got there a few minutes before 7:00 and waited. Then I waited some more. Then I waited some more. Then I waited some more. It was now close to 7:30, and neither Ryan nor any other player had come walking out of that locker room. Keep in mind now that I was just one of a parking lot full of parents who were waiting on their kids. It was, after all, j.v. football, so it’s not like a lot of the players had their drivers licenses.

Well, at some point the door to the locker room finally flung open and the players started streaming out in droves. When Ryan got in the car, I asked him, “What took so long in there?” He then informed me that an assistant coach had taken it upon himself after practice to give one of those “manhood” speeches that football coaches live to give. I know the speeches well because I myself have given a few of them during my days of helping coach youth-league football.

By the way, in case there are any coaches reading this, please take note of the report that Ryan gave me about that speech. When I asked him if he got anything out of what the man said, he answered, “No.” When I asked him what the speech was about, he said, “I don’t know, just a bunch of stuff I’d heard a million times before.” When I asked him if the coach used any profanity, he grinned and said, “Yes, he used seven curse words. I counted.” Meet the modern-day kid. Needless to say, Vince Lombardi would have a hard time relating to him.

Even though I could say a lot about cursing in front of highly impressionable high school boys and being a good role model, I’ll let that go for now and stay on subject. Can you understand the sheer lack of common courtesy that oozes out of an assistant coach boring his players with a profanity-laced speech for some twenty minutes while a sea of parents sit in their cars in the parking lot worrying about their kids’ lack of supper and amount of homework? I assure you that if you want to teach genuine manhood to a bunch of teenage boys, teaching them to cuss and ignore their worried parents in the parking lot ain’t the way to do it.

But please don’t think that this lack of courtesy extends only as far as a high school locker room. Like I said, I couldn’t even begin to name all the relevant examples. So, let me mention just one more and then I’ll wrap this up. A few days after that j.v. football practice, Tonya and I took Ryan and our other son, Royce, to the local pool. As usual, the place was pretty busy and the spots where women could lay out in the sun were somewhat limited. That meant that some ladies ended up doing their sunning in the vicinity of the diving board.

You know where I’m going with this, right? I watched as some heavy-set dude absolutely drowned a woman with his cannonball. You say, “Well, Russell, he probably didn’t mean to do that.” Yes, he did. He actually jumped off toward that side to make sure that he nailed somebody. You say, “Well, teenage boys do stupid things.” You’re right, they do, but I’d estimate this guy to have been in his thirties. You say, “Well, that woman probably didn’t mind get splashed. She knew it was all in good fun.” Yeah, right, I guess that’s why she jumped up and fussed.

You see, nobody likes being on the bad end of a lack of courtesy. Why, then, has our society sunk so low in this department? I suspect it’s because somewhere along the line people started giving as good as they were getting. They don’t return phone calls, texts, or emails because nobody returns theirs. They don’t care to flippantly waste other peoples’ time because they’ve had their time flippantly wasted. They don’t care to splash unsuspecting sunbathers at the pool because they figure that someone would do it to them if they got the chance.

So, this post is my way of sending out a challenge for the madness to stop, and I’m asking you, the reader, to pick up that challenge. Go ahead and let that car pull out in front of you. Life as you know it won’t end if you do. Put that grocery cart in its place properly. You might just save someone a door ding by doing so. Pick up what’s left of your nachos and popcorn after the game and put it all in a trash can. That will keep someone else from having to do it. If you say you will be somewhere at a certain time, be there at that time. Don’t keep people waiting. If someone lets you borrow something, get it back to them promptly. That person shouldn’t have to hunt you down to reacquire their property. Hold the door open for an elderly person. You’ll be aged yourself one day and you’ll want someone to hold the door for you. Do you hear what I’m saying? This world is a hard enough place without you adding to the hardship, and keep in mind that if no one else is watching, God is.

Posted in Character, Children, Communication, Doing Good, Honesty, Humility, Influence, Leadership, Parenting, Personal, Personal Holiness, Priorities, Sports, Youth | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Transitioning Into the Afterlife

Posted on October 23, 2023 by russellmckinney

An old Scot lay on his death bed, and his family called for their local minister. As the minister entered the room and sat down in a chair next to the bed, he saw that another chair was pulled up right alongside the bed’s opposite side. The dying man noticed the minister’s puzzlement about the other chair and began to explain. He said, “Pastor, I used to have a very hard time praying. So, one day I talked to our previous pastor about the problem and he advised me to place an empty chair opposite me, imagine that Jesus was sitting in that chair, and then talk with Him as I would a friend. I found that praying that way worked for me and I’ve been doing it for many years ever since.”

A few days later, the Scot’s daughter called the minister and informed him that her father had passed away. She said, “I wasn’t expecting him to die when he did. I had just gone to my room to lie down to get a couple hours sleep. I thought it would be alright because he seemed to be sleeping so comfortably. But when I checked on him after my nap, I found him dead. The only difference between when I left him and when I found him was the fact that his hand was now placed on the empty chair beside his bed. Isn’t that strange?” The minister couldn’t help but give a little smile as he answered, “No, it’s not so strange. I understand.”

That story reminds me of one that I’ve heard used in relation to Genesis 5:21-24, the passage that tells us that God “took” Enoch. Verse 24 of that passage says:

Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away. (N.I.V.)

As the story goes, each day God would come to Enoch in the morning and say, “Enoch, let’s walk together today.” Enoch would agree, and he and God would spend the whole day walking together. Every day they would walk a little further than they had the previous day and then return to Enoch’s house. But eventually there came a day when God said, “Enoch, we’ve walked so far today that we are actually closer to My house. So, let’s just go on there this time.”

Yes, I know, Enoch didn’t literally die a physical death. Still, though, that little story is a beautiful way to think about how the believer transitions into the afterlife. I don’t suppose that any piece of writing every put it more succinctly or more perfectly than the classic K.J.V. translation renders 1 Corinthians 15:55, and so I’ll close this post with those familiar words:

O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

Posted in Aging, Comfort, Death, Discipleship, God's Love, Heaven, Prayer, Reward, Salvation, Trusting In God | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Ducking Those Spears & Arrows

Posted on October 20, 2023 by russellmckinney

In The Making of a Man of God: Studies in the Life of David, Alan Redpath gives us a wonderful quote concerning the man of God in relation to the people of the world. He writes:

It is impossible for a man chosen of God to be at peace with the children of the devil. A man anointed of the Holy Spirit is immediately the target of Satan…It is possible that for a while you, like David, may be able to soothe your enemy and make him happy if you play your spiritual harp to him. But the moment the world discovers what you are, when the obvious evidence of heavenly reality rests upon you, they will begin to sling the javelins at you.

The story that Redpath is referencing is found in 1 Samuel chapters 16 through 18. The teenage David played the harp for King Saul whenever Saul was depressed or melancholy, and David’s playing refreshed the king. The situation changed, however, after David slew the Philistine giant Goliath and became a national hero in Israel. Following that, Saul became so insanely jealous of David that one day, while David was playing the harp for him, Saul threw a spear at him in an attempt to pin him to the wall. The spear missed, but the message was sent. From that moment on, Saul was out to get David.

Whereas Redpath spoke of javelins being slung at David, the Israelite patriarch Jacob spoke of arrows being shot at his son Joseph, another man of God. In Genesis 49:22-26, the elderly Jacob offers up his deathbed description of Joseph, verse 23 of which says:

The archers have bitterly grieved him, shot at him, and hated him (N.K.J.V.).

Now, was Jacob talking about literal archers with literal arrows, just as Saul had thrown a literal spear at David? No. First, Jacob was talking about his ten oldest sons whose jealousy and hatred of Joseph had led them to sell him into slavery (Genesis 37:1-36). Second, he was talking about Potiphar’s wife, who had falsely accused Joseph of attempted rape when Joseph had spurned her sexual advances (Genesis 39:1-18). Third, he was talking about Potiphar, who had sided with his wife in that whole scandal and had ordered that Joseph be thrown into prison (Genesis 39:19-20). Fourth, he was talking about Pharaoh’s chief butler, who had reneged on a deal he had made with Joseph about making Pharoah aware of Joseph’s unjust imprisonment (Genesis 40:1-23). You see, each of these individuals, with his or her actions toward Joseph, had shot an arrow at him in an attempt to wound him.

But why am I telling you all this? I’m doing it to let you, the man or woman of God, know that when you step out into the world and start serving God in an uncommonly high way, you’d best know how to duck. Trust me, stuff will start flying at you! I don’t figure that it will be literal stuff, but, hey, you never know. Just ask David on that one. The point is, though, that the world recognizes the person who walks out of step with it, let alone the one who stands as a daily rebuke of it.

But please don’t let this warning deter you from going all out for Christ. Remember that the same David who had the spear thrown at him wrote about the Lord preparing a table for him in the presence of his enemies (Psalm 23:5). That tells us that God can not only keep His servant safe against the world’s spears and arrows but also provide a bountiful table of blessing for that servant right in the midst of the servant’s enemies. I like the sounds of that, don’t you? So, don’t give up on serving the Lord when those spears and arrows start flying at you. Instead, start looking for God’s table of blessing. It will be there.

Posted in Adversity, Comfort, Commitment, Courage, Criticism, Disappointment, Doing Good, Encouragement, Faithfulness, God's Love, God's Provision, God's Work, Ministry, Persecution, Perseverance, Problems, Service, Spiritual Warfare, Suffering, Trials, Trusting In God | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

How’s Your Contending?

Posted on October 18, 2023 by russellmckinney

Jude was the earthly half-brother of Jesus. He was also the writer of the Bible’s book of Jude, which is a letter he wrote to his fellow Christians. Jude’s original plan was to build the letter around the subject of the salvation that Christians hold in common. But when it came time to put ink to parchment, the Holy Spirit led him to write a much different letter, one that encouraged Christians to contend for the Christian faith and be on guard against apostate teachers who would pollute the pure stream of that faith. Jude 1:3-4 say:

Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. (N.K.J.V.)

Christian, you need to understand that if some dedicated, courageous Christians down through the ages hadn’t contended for the faith in the face of apostasy, wrong doctrine, and false teaching in their day, you might never have heard the true, pure gospel in your day. Furthermore, you need to also understand that it is now your job to carry the torch they have passed. In his book Of God & Men, A.W. Tozer, a great defender of the faith himself, puts it this way:

The task of the church is twofold: to spread Christianity throughout the world and to make sure that the Christianity she spreads is the pure New Testament kind.

If you need some additional scriptural motivation to take up this challenge, the Bible offers plenty. Consider the following list (all from the N.K.J.V.):

1. We are to test all teachings:

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. (1 John 4:1)

2. We are to expose those teachings that are false:

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. (Ephesians 5:8-11)

3. We are to rebuke false teachers:

…Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men who turn from the truth. (Titus 1:13-14)

4. We are to separate from those who persist in false teaching:

Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. (Romans 16:17)

5. If we refuse to separate ourselves from false teachers, we hinder ourselves from being vessels of honor that can be used by God to perform every good work:

But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. (2 Timothy 2:20-21)

In closing, let me say that I realize full well that this subject doesn’t get preached much these days. Instead, modern-day Christians are all about tolerance, acceptance, ecumenicalism, and what we refer to as “unity.” But unity around error is not a unity to be valued. Actually, it’s the polar opposite of Jude’s plea for us to contend for the faith. In light of this, Christian, I want you to ask yourself a serious question: “If every Christian contended for the pure Christian faith the way I do, where would that faith be fifty years from now?” Be honest with your answer, and if you need to pick up the torch of contending for the faith, please do so. I assure you that we need you in the battle.

Posted in Bible Study, Christian Unity, Courage, Discernment, Discipleship, Doctrine, Faithfulness, God's Word, God's Work, Ministry, Pastors, Preaching, Salvation, Scripture, Service, Truth | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

A Word About the Media & Polling

Posted on October 16, 2023 by russellmckinney

An international automobile race was once held in the Soviet Union. With that country being under strict Communist control, the international media was forced to rely upon Pravda to report the race results. Pravda was the mouthpiece newspaper for the Communist party. And so, what were those results? According to Pravda, the American car came in next to last while the Russian-made Moskovich car came in second.

Okay, sounds like a plain case of Communist engineering over American engineering, right? Wrong. The truth is that there were only two cars in the race and the American car beat the Russian car! Do you see how the report from Pravda was literally true and yet oh so misleading? Welcome to the world of biased media and manipulated statistics.

Every time I hear the words, “According to the latest polls, the majority of Americans…” my ear just tunes out. C’mon, it’s not like every American was polled. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a pollster for a national organization on the streets of tiny Spruce Pine, North Carolina, where I live. Stop 100 people on the streets of San Francisco, California, and ask your questions. Then fly down to Birmingham, Alabama and ask 100 people there. Do you think the results from both cities will match up evenly?

But, really, even if the poll results are based upon large-scale polling and are unbiasedly reported, what practical difference do they make to the Bible-believing Christian anyway? I mean, is abortion going to suddenly become right in the eyes of God just because 50.1 percent of Americans think it is okay? No. Is God going to change His mind on homosexuality just because a slim majority of Americans don’t agree with what His written word teaches about it? No. Is the approval of capital punishment going to disappear from the pages of both the Old Testament (Genesis 9:6) and the New Testament (Romans 13:1-4) just because the latest poll shows that most Americans disagree with it? No. Do you see what I mean? God is never going to change His truth, standards, and word simply to appease a bunch of rogue Americans. And I don’t need a poll to tell me that.

Posted in Abortion, Bible Study, Capital Punishment, Current Events, Deception, Discernment, Discipleship, Doubt, God's Word, Homosexuality, Politics, Scripture, The Bible, The Death Penalty, Truth | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

The Need for Faith When Engaged in Spiritual Warfare

Posted on October 13, 2023 by russellmckinney

A boxer was getting absolutely pummeled in a title fight. His trainer knew how bad things were going, but he felt that it was his job to keep his fighter encouraged. So, when the boxer staggered back to the corner after yet another rough round, the trainer said, “You’re doing great out there, champ. Just keep bobbing and weaving. He can’t hit you. He’s not laid a glove on you all night.” The boxer sat on the stool and listened to the trainer’s praise, but it was obvious that he was confused by what he was hearing. Finally, when the bell rang for him to head back out into the ring, he looked at the trainer and said, “If what you’re telling me is true, then I want you to keep an eye on that referee this round because somebody out there is beating me to death!”

Christian, have you ever felt like that beleaguered boxer? I sure have. And who was it that was beating me to death? Ephesians 6:12 answers that question:

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. (N.K.J.V.)

There you have it, Christian. You are in the ring against none other than Satan and the other fallen angels. And, unfortunately, the greater the impact you make in serving Christ, the greater their blows to you will be. I realize this isn’t what you want to hear, but it’s the truth nonetheless.

That sixth chapter of Ephesians tells us that the Christian’s best line of defense against spiritual warfare is armor, the whole armor of God. This armor includes: truth (v.14), righteousness (v.14), the gospel (v.15), faith (v.16), salvation (v.17), and the word of God (v.17). Next, right on the heels of all that, comes a word about praying in the Spirit (v.18), being watchful (v.18), persevering (v.18), and making supplication for your fellow Christians (v.18). It all makes for good preaching.

However, I want to draw your attention to one very important but usually overlooked part of that passage. Verse 16 says:

above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked one. (N.K.J.V., emphasis mine)

Isn’t it interesting that faith is rated above all the other important things on the list of the armor? It is faith, Paul says, that allows the Christian to quench the “fiery darts” (many translations say “flaming arrows”) of the wicked one. And so, it is with this in mind that I ask you, Christian, how’s your faith these days?

The fact is, that simple question might very well determine how effectively the rest of your spiritual armor works. Do you have faith that God is greater than Satan and the other fallen angels? Do you have faith that He will enable you to overcome any roundhouse rights they throw at you? Do you have faith that He will never let the spiritual warfare that is swirling around become more than you can handle? And do you have faith that He won’t let Satan and his fallen angels defeat His purposes for your life? I hope you can answer, “Yes” to each of these questions because those flaming arrows will surely inflict serious damage upon you if you can’t block them with your shield.

Posted in Adversity, Angels, Demons, Discipleship, Doubt, Faith, Faithfulness, Fear, God's Omnipotence, Persecution, Perseverance, Problems, Satan, Spiritual Warfare, The Devil, Trusting In God | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Persistence

Posted on October 11, 2023 by russellmckinney

And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. (Galatians 6:9, N.K.J.V.)

At 10:30 one night, a little girl called out from her bed, “Mommy, will you bring me a drink of water?” Her mother dutifully obliged. One hour later, the girl called out again, “Mommy, will you bring me a drink of water?” The mother obliged again, but this time she added in, “Now don’t ask me again tonight.”

Despite that warning, thirty minutes later the little girl called out again, “Mommy, will you bring me a drink of water?” The mother thought, “She must really need a drink because she wouldn’t ask needlessly after what I told her the last time.” So, the mother delivered another cup of water. But this time her warning was more serious and final: “If you bother me about this again tonight I’m going to spank you.” Fifteen minutes later, the little girl spoke up again. She said, “Mommy, when you get up to spank me, will you bring me a drink of water?”

Webster’s defines persistent as: “stubbornly continuing in one’s course in spite of opposing influences.” The World War II generation, the so-called “greatest generation,” knew a ton about being persistent, but I fear that with each generation since we’ve lost more and more of the concept. Maybe fast-food restaurants and microwaves ruined us. Instant gratification is what we’re into now.

The fact is, though, that some things in life will always call for persistence. I’m talking about things such as keeping a marriage together, holding down a job, raising a child, and paying off a mortgage. If you are going to accomplish these assignments, you’re going to have to (as Webster’s put it) stubbornly continue in your course of action in spite of opposing influences.

I write this as a word of encouragement to any reader who is just about to quit on something he or she shouldn’t be quitting. You say, “But you don’t know the problems that I am having!” No, I don’t, but those problems don’t necessarily mean that God wants you to you throw in the towel on what you are doing. Listen, old-fashioned stubbornness doesn’t have to be a bad thing. To the contrary, when you use it to stick to a God-approved task, it becomes a valuable resource to either keep you where God wants you to be or get you to where He wants you to go.

Posted in Adversity, Character, Choices, Commitment, Disappointment, Faithfulness, God's Will, God's Work, Impatience, Marriage, Parenting, Patience, Perseverance, Problems, Temptation, Trials, Work | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Did the Apostle Paul Miss God’s Will?

Posted on October 9, 2023 by russellmckinney

Did the apostle Paul miss the will of God in one of the most important decisions of his ministry? Such a question might seem ludicrous to those who rate Paul barely a notch below Jesus, but some sincere students of the Bible believe there is a case to be made that Paul got it wrong. See what you think.

The debated decision involves Paul’s last trip to Jerusalem, a trip in which he ended up arrested. Following the arrest, he languished in legal limbo for nothing short of two full years. Finally, he appealed his case directly to Caesar and was transported to Rome for trial. But even that voyage wasn’t without peril as his ship got caught in a terrible storm, foundered, and eventually ran aground on Malta (Acts chapter 27). If you think all that sounds like a nightmarish two years or so, you’re right. It gets even worse, though, when you learn that God had given Paul several warnings beforehand about what would happen to him if he made that trip to Jerusalem. Consider the following passages (all from the N.K.J.V.):

“And see, now I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me.” (Acts 20:22-23, emphasis mine)

When we had sighted Cyprus, we passed it on the left, sailed to Syria, and landed at Tyre; for there the ship was to unload her cargo. And finding disciples, we stayed there seven days. They told Paul through the Spirit not to go up to Jerusalem. (Acts 21:3-4, emphasis mine)

And as we stayed many days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. When he had come to us, he took Paul’s belt, bound his own hands and feet, and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’” Now when we heard these things, both we and those from that place pleaded with him not to go up to Jerusalem. (Acts 21:10-12, emphasis mine)

It isn’t hard to see how these passages might lend support to the idea that Paul missed God’s will in forging on ahead to Jerusalem. And it’s because of them that some prominent Bible-teachers have maintained that Paul missed it at this crossroad in his life. Let me name a few of those men and share what they had to say on this subject.

James Montgomery Boice, in his commentary Acts, wrote:

…though Paul was driven by high motives, what he did at this time of his life was wrong. Being wrong, it had unfortunate consequences for him and perhaps also for other people.

John R. Rice, in his Acts commentary entitled Filled With the Spirit, expressed the same view when he wrote:

Those warnings of impending imprisonment and persecution were given only because Paul ought not to have gone…..the warnings of God about Jerusalem meant that he should not go…..Thus he went on to imprisonment, two or three sad and relatively empty years before he got to Rome and before he could resume a large ministry.

Donald Grey Barnhouse, in his Acts commentary, came down even more harshly on Paul’s decision. He wrote:

By this time Paul was an opinionated, stubborn man and was determined to have his own way. It’s a great, yet sad, picture of what happens in the lives of far too many Christians…..Believe me, my friends, God sometimes has to deal sharply with those of His people who defy His will. So, with Paul. He was determined to do things his way, no matter what God wanted.

Similarly, Harry Ironside, in his Acts commentary, also left plenty of room for the possibility that Paul might have stepped outside God’s will in this matter. He said:

Did he make a mistake in doing so? Did Paul really disobey the voice of the Lord? It is hard for us to say. We may be sure of this, that if he did make a mistake, he made it from the best of motives. If he blundered here, he blundered out of an overpowering love for the Jewish people. I am afraid that some of us cannot say of our mistakes that they have always been motivated by love…..we are apt to think of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ as though they were men of a much higher caliber than ourselves, and therefore there is no possibility of our being used as they were. But we learn as we study the book of Acts that these same men were of like passions as ourselves. They had the same fallible judgment that we have. They could be misled as we are misled.

Lastly, Ray Stedman, in his Acts 21:1-26 message Paul’s Mistake, lays out quite a case that Paul should not have gone to Jerusalem at that time. Here are some selected quotes from Stedman’s message:

As I have studied this passage, and worked with it through the years, I have come to the very deep conviction that it was not necessary for Paul to have been a prisoner. I know that the Lord Jesus, when He first called Paul on the Damascus Road, said that he was to suffer great things — but not necessarily as a prisoner. Paul had already suffered many things by this time.

Many commentators have struggled with this passage. I suppose we are all reluctant to attribute any wrongful action to the Apostle Paul…And yet, taken at its face value, this sentence (Acts 21:4) indicates a command of the Holy Spirit which the apostle, for motives we shall examine, chose to ignore.

Others say that Paul was right and that it was the disciples who were wrong, that they should not have tried to stop him, because Paul was following an inner leading of the Spirit which they should have acknowledged. But that is to ignore three crucial words — it was “through the Spirit” that they told Paul not to go on to Jerusalem. We must face the full implications of these words. They were recorded by Luke, who was Paul’s friend. He wrote this account several years after these events, and with the advantage of hindsight, he looked back over the whole circumstance that followed. And yet, led by the Holy Spirit in recording this inspired book, he wrote down at this juncture that it was “through the Holy Spirit” that these disciples told Paul that he was not to go up to Jerusalem. The Greek is very strong here — much stronger than our English text. Literally they said, “Stop going up to Jerusalem!”

Okay, so, by now perhaps you are ready to pronounce the verdict “Guilty as charged” upon Paul’s decision. But don’t do that before you hear from some of the noteworthy Bible-teachers who have taught that Paul didn’t miss God’s will in this decision. For example, G. Campbell Morgan wrote in his commentary, The Acts of the Apostles:

My conviction is that Paul was right. His conviction was one resulting from the guidance of the Spirit of God.

Matthew Henry, in his legendary The Matthew Henry Commentary, offers this same opinion as he says of those disciples in Tyre:

It was not at all their fault to think so, but it was their mistake, for his trial would be for the glory of God and the furtherance of the gospel, and he knew it.

John Phillips, in his commentary Exploring Acts, points to the depth of Paul’s spiritual discernment as evidence that Paul made the right decision. Phillips writes:

He was a godly man, spiritually sensitive and guided by the Holy Spirit. It hardly seems possible that Paul’s decision to go to Jerusalem was a case of stubborn, deliberate, and willful defiance of the Holy Spirit. He must have had some inward permission from the Holy Spirit to go to Jerusalem, or he would not have gone.

Taking a different approach to reach the same conclusion, David Jeremiah, in his The Jeremiah Study Bible, points out the difference between a warning and a forbidding, He writes:

Paul took the words of the believers in Tyre as a warning through the Spirit of what would happen in Jerusalem. Less concerned about his physical well-being than he was with the will of God, Paul did not yield to the counsel of the Christians in Tyre because he knew what God was calling him to do.

W.A. Criswell, in his The Criswell Study Bible, also goes with this interpretation as he writes:

Paul was convinced that God’s Spirit wanted him to go to Jerusalem. Others who were equally led of the Spirit had prepared Paul by warning him that imprisonment was imminent if he persisted in his journey to the Holy City. Paul’s evaluation of the situation is that none of the threats concerning him. Life on earth is no longer a real concern except as it relates to the completion of his mission.

Continuing with the idea that a warning is not a forbidding, Chuck Smith, in his The Word for Today Bible, suggests that those who told Paul not to go to Jerusalem simply mistook a warning for a message. He writes:

There is a question as to whether the Holy Spirit was directly forbidding Paul to go to Jerusalem or whether the Holy Spirit was warning that Paul would be imprisoned and afflicted in Jerusalem. It is quite possible that the Spirit told the disciples at Tyre concerning Paul’s impending imprisonment, and they misinterpreted that warning as a message from the Holy Spirit that Paul should not go to Jerusalem.

Chuck Swindoll concurs with this assessment. In volume 3 of his study guides on Acts, as part of a chapter entitled Man’s Advice Versus God’s Advice, Swindoll offers his opinion regarding that Acts 21:4 verse. He writes:

More likely, the Spirit was merely predicting what would happen to Paul in Jerusalem, but the disciples were misinterpreting those predictions as prohibitions.

Warren Wiersbe can be found in this same camp too as he writes in his The Bible Exposition Commentary:

On the pro side, the prophetic utterances can be taken as warning (“Get ready!”) rather than as prohibitions (“You must not go!”).

And then finally, along these same lines, William MacDonald, in his Believer’s Bible Commentary, writes:

It seems far more probable that Paul interpreted the advice of his friends as calculated to save him from physical suffering or even death. In his love for his Jewish countrymen, he did not feel that his physical well-being was the important consideration.

And so what is the correct answer to the question: “Did Paul miss God’s will in making that fateful trip to Jerusalem?” Well, like the debate regarding Paul’s “thorn in the flesh,” this debate will no doubt continue among Christians until we all get to heaven. As for me, though, in my humble and possibly wrong opinion, Paul missed it.

Since I’ve built this post around various quotes from noted Bible-teachers, let me close with an extended quote from Oliver B. Greene. Frankly, of all the things I’ve ever read concerning this debate, these words make the most sense to me. Whether you agree or disagree with Greene’s assessment, please give a hearing to what he wrote. In volume 4 of his commentary set The Acts of the Apostles, he writes:

We cannot but admire the zeal of the Apostle Paul, the strong determination he had; but his disregard of the warning in this instance cost him two years of valuable opportunities. He was not in Jerusalem long before he was bound as prophesied.

Paul was touched by the concern and the entreaties of his fellow Christians. But his love for the Jews was so great that he answered, “I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” This man possessed courage seldom matched in others. He never turned back from his duty as an apostle – but as if often the case with men of that caliber, his unusual strength was his weakness. On more than one occasion the apostle’s love for souls was mistaken for guidance, and his zeal drove him into cities and places where God did not lead him to go.

God called him as minister to the Gentiles, and he was faithful to that ministry; but he could not hide the disappointment of his heart. He obeyed the call to carry the Gospel to the Gentiles, but it would appear that he sincerely believed he was the man to win the Jews to Christ. It was always his custom when he entered a city to go first to the synagogue to reason with the Jews, expounding the Word of God, preaching the Gospel of God’s marvelous grace. When we compare spiritual things with spiritual, we are faced with the question as to whether or not Paul was justified in doing this. His burning passion to see Israel saved led him into many hardships, much suffering, and persecution…..even though I still believe the Apostle Paul was God’s most dedicated servant, in this instance he disregarded the warning, refused to change his plans, and stubbornly held to his determination to go to Jerusalem.

Posted in Choices, Counsel, Decisions, Desires, Discernment, Discipleship, Disobedience, God's Will, God's Word, God's Work, Ministry, Obedience, Rebellion, Seeking Advice, Sowing and Reaping, Temptation, The Holy Spirit | Tagged , , , | 14 Comments

Bread & Stone

Posted on October 6, 2023 by russellmckinney

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?” (Matthew 7:7-9, N.K.J.V.)

One writer has said:

The Lord’s answers to our prayers are infinitely perfect, and eternity will show that often when we were asking for a stone that looked like bread, He was giving us bread that looked like stone.

I, for one, know what it’s like to ask for some version of “bread” in prayer only to have God send an answer that seemed to be some version of “stone.” At some point during Tonya’s pregnancy with our first child, Ryan, it dawned on me that someone was going to have to babysit the kid. At that time, Tonya was teaching middle school and her income was necessary for us to pay our bills. So, either she was going to have to quit her job and become a full-time mother, which would also have meant selling our house and downsizing, or some other arrangements would have to be made. But neither one of our mothers could help out because both were still working at the time, and we couldn’t afford to pay a babysitter, either.

And so, we put our house on the market for a reasonable price and I began praying that God would send us a buyer. I thought, “If we can sell and get this mortgage off us, Tonya can resign from teaching and we can buy a smaller house that we can afford on my pastor’s income. Even if we don’t buy a smaller house, maybe God will send me to a church that offers a parsonage as a part of their salary package.” Either solution made sense to me, and I devoted a ton of prayer requests to the situation.

However, as the months passed, it became increasingly obvious that God wasn’t going to let us sell our house. Despite the fact that we had plenty of people look at it, no one was serious enough to buy it. Then, on June 17th, Ryan was born.

Since school started back the first of August, we had a window of six weeks or so with Tonya at home with him. After that, the inevitable came to pass as the first day of school rolled around and Tonya headed off to her job. That left you-know-who to step up to the plate and babysit. I was available because we pastors, for whatever it’s worth, have the option of setting our own schedules.

Did I want to take a crash course in tending to the needs of a baby? No. Did I want to become a Mister Mom? Of course not. Was I a little ticked off at God for not letting us sell the house? Yep. You see, in my mind, I had asked for a piece of bread and God had sent a rock. It wasn’t that I didn’t love Ryan. I just thought Tonya would have made an infinitely superior babysitter for him.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I kept Ryan every day, from morning until afternoon, for all the years until he started kindergarten. Tonya took over on weekends and during the summers, but the rest of the time the responsibility was mine. My daily routine consisted of fixing his meals, bathing him, cleaning up his messes, making the beds, tidying up the house, and doing the laundry. If I had any spare time, or if Ryan took a nap, I worked on sermon preparation. Any pastoral visiting I needed to do had to wait until Tonya got home from school. Trust me, all that wasn’t how I would have chosen to carry out my life and ministry during those years. It was, however, the answer God sent.

And do you know what God did a few years later when Tonya became pregnant with our second child, Royce? He kept that exact same plan in place. So, right on schedule, I served as Royce’s babysitter until he started school, just as I had done for Ryan. I did get a slight reprieve with Royce because he attended preschool for a couple of years before he started kindergarten. Other than that, though, my years of keeping him looked a lot like a rerun of my years keeping Ryan.

Oh, and guess what happened along about the time Royce started school. That’s when a guy called me out of the clear blue and asked if we would be interested in selling our house. I answered, “Yes,” and a few weeks later the papers were signed. I remain convinced that if Tonya and I had had a third child, we wouldn’t have sold that house until I had babysat that child as well!

Well, all of that seems like another lifetime ago now. But you know what? I’ve actually reached a point where I miss my babysitting era. I think about the fact that back then I could still protect the boys from life’s heartbreaks. Surely, friends like Barney, Bear In The Big Blue House, and PB and J Otter meant them no harm. Also, there was such a sweetness to those days, an innocence that children get robbed off, little by little, as they grow up.

Sure, I understand that it’s all a part of the ebb and flow of life. I also understand God wants little boys to mature into fine young men who serve Him out in the real world. But don’t blame me for sometimes longing for those simpler years. The fact is, they allowed me to forge an intimate relationship with each of my two sons, a relationship that continues to grow deeper all the time.

I’ve heard more than one pastor bemoan the fact that he missed out on his kid’s childhood because he spent so much time doing church work. As for me, though, I’ve now accumulated enough wisdom to realize God was doing me a loving favor by seeing to it that such a thing didn’t happen to me. There I was, thinking all the time He was being mean by sending me stone, when in reality He was sending me some of the best bread I’ll ever know in this life.

Truth be told, it’s bread I wouldn’t mind tasting again if such a thing was possible. Unfortunately, the best I can do now is catch a whiff of its aroma by looking at pictures or watching old videotapes. That fleeting smell always brings a smile to my face and reminds me again just how wonderful that bread was, and it makes me question how in the world I could ever have classified it as stone.

Posted in Children, Complaining, Desires, Disappointment, Family, Fatherhood, God's Love, God's Omniscience, God's Will, God's Work, Husbands, Marriage, Ministry, Parenting, Pastors, Personal, Prayer, Prayer Requests, Priorities, Service, Trusting In God | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments