European Vacation – Acts 19:21-22

Has the vacation or travel bug ever bitten your heart? Sure it has.

Have you ever had the opportunity to plan a truly marvelous trip to some exotic place?

Maybe it was Yellowstone or Glacier; maybe it was Calgary or Washington DC; maybe it was Europe.

Well then, have you ever dreamed, and planned, and saved, and eventually taken a dream vacation,

but when it was finished and you were forced to return home to restart your old life,

you realized that what you had envisioned didn’t really turn out the way that you had hoped?

Sure you had fun, learned new things and saw some beautiful sights,

but the weather was bad, you were a little sick, the motel bed was hard,

and the sights were not as spectacular as you had dreamed.

Maybe you even wondered if all the money that you spent had been used wisely.

Some people long to see the great capitals of Europe: London, Paris and Rome.

Since the ancestors of most Americans came from Europe, there is in some of us a magnetic pull back to see the place where our great-grandfathers were born.

Or maybe there is a Baptistic longing to see Spurgeon’s Tabernacle, or the Valleys of Piedmont, or the city where Paul had been incarcerated.

We are introduced in this scripture to Paul’s dream of a kind of European Vacation.

Like millions of people since, Paul had a longing to see Rome.

But his dream wasn’t of a Roman holiday.

Let’s briefly think about Paul’s thoughts of Rome.

First, what were the plans that were forming in Paul’s mind?

This Apostle had been raised as a Pharisee of the Pharisees, and as such he had a inextinguishable love for the city of Jerusalem.

I’m sure that he would say that some of the happiest days of his life had been spent in that city.

It was there that he went to Pharisaical college and sat at the feet of the great teacher Gamaliel.

Jerusalem was the place where his faith in Christ had been conceived.

It wasn’t the place of his spiritual birth, but it was vitally connected to it.

And although some people might try to criticize him for it, Paul continued to have a love for some the Jewish feasts and festivals.

Not only did he want to visit the church where the Lord had pastored,

and to see those who were apostles before him,

but as his second missionary journey came to an end,

he desperately tried to be in the Holy City for the feast – probably Pentecost.

And when this current trip draws to a close, once again, he will be trying hard to be in the city for one of the important feast days.

But as we shall see, there is more in Paul’s desire to return to Jerusalem than just these two things.

He was aware that his Christian brethren in Jerusalem were in desperate straights due to a continuing drought and famine.

He had a desire to be a tangible and physical blessing to the people to whom he felt that he owed a great debt.

And so prior to returning to Israel, Paul wanted to revisit the churches in Macedonia and Achaia.

Paul was the spiritual midwife to churches in Philippi, Thessalonica, Corinth and other places.

He wanted to make sure that they were not falling into heresy, or that their members were not returning to their old sinful ways.

He wanted to encourage their pastors, and to edify and revive them if necessary.

But not only did he want to see how they were progressing spiritually, he wanted to encourage them in the Christian trait of generosity.

He wanted to put together a large love offering that he could take back to Jerusalem.

Remember that he had been able to do that to a limited degree after his last missionary trip, and he wanted to do even more this time.

Most scholars believe that Paul was in Philippi when he wrote his Corinthian epistles.

Both of those letters talk about this desire of his.

“Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye.

Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.

And when I come, whomsoever ye shall approve by your letters, them will I send to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem. And if it be meet that I go also, they shall go with me.

Now I will come unto you, when I shall pass through Macedonia: for I do pass through Macedonia.

And it may be that I will abide, yea, and winter with you, that ye may bring me on my journey whithersoever I go.”

So Paul had a desire to visit the churches of Greece and to collect love offerings to take back to Jerusalem.

And then after returning to Jerusalem he had a desire to see Rome.

This may have been a secret dream of his since his youth.

And when he was in Corinth working at the table side by side with Aquilla, this desire may have been intensified as the other man talked about the size, wealth and significance of that city.

For a while Paul preached the gospel in Illyricum, on the western side of Macedonia, with just the Adriatic Sea separating him from Italy.

Oh, he had a desire to see Rome.

But you can be sure that it wasn’t just to visit and see the sights.

When he was in Corinth, he wrote to the saints in Rome.

In the first chapter he clearly described his heart’s desire for Rome.

“First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers;

Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you. For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established;

That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.

Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, (but was let hitherto,) that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles.

I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise.

So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness.”

Paul had a dream about visiting his old friends in Macedonia and Achaia,

collecting from them as much money as he could,

in order to be a blessing to his even older friends in Jerusalem,

and from there he had a dream to visit Rome.

Where do you suppose that these dreams came from?

There is nothing wrong with having god-honoring dreams, hopes and wishes.

I think that these desires were put in his heart by the Holy Spirit.

Every one of them should have brought glory to the Saviour.

But, as they say, “Be careful what you wish for.”

So what was it that happened in regard to these dreams?

First, Paul put some feet to his dreams:

He sent Timotheus and Erastus to precede him into Macedonia.

It was their job to act as Apostolic forerunners, to do some teaching about giving and to start collecting funds.

We notice that Paul had authority over these men.

First, they were his helpers; they were ministers to Paul.

They willingly did whatever they could to assist the man of God in his ministry in Ephesus.

That means that they traveled about the country-side and preached wherever they were directed.

They probably did door-to-door visitation and handled some of the follow-up work.

They were the probably some of the ones who went down into the river and baptized people.

They did whatever they were asked to do in order to permit Paul to focus on prayer and the ministry of the Word.

Was Paul their employer?

Did they come and kiss his ring or his big toe every morning?

Did they wash his feet or do other menial tasks?

No, Paul did not hold any legal authority over them, but there was a kind of moral supremacy.

He was the Apostle of the Lord, and God had abundantly proven His satisfaction with the ministry of this man.

Timothy, and probably Erastus as well, had been lead to Christ through the ministry of Paul.

They loved him, and felt that they owed a debt to him, as Paul felt he had a debt to others.

And as a result, when Paul needed something, they were quick to obey or to volunteer.

So off went Timothy and Erastus to Macedonia and eventually down to Corinth.

And a few months later, after the riot in Ephesus had subsided, Paul followed.

Paul’s time table may not have been what he originally dreamed, but at least there was a kind of plan.

And this is perhaps the point of this message.

Not only does the Bible not forbid us to have dreams and to make plans,

But it teaches us to make sure that those dreams and plans are laid before the Lord and His throne.

Have you ever noticed that some of the most important work that the Lord Jesus or His disciples ever did came to them by way of interruptions?

They were going somewhere to so something, but the father of a sick girl interrupted them.

They were headed in one direction, but they were forced to change direction in order to accomplish something else.

Yes, we should plan and save, prepare and begin to execute, but we must not be grumpy about it when the Lord says, “Fine, but now I want you to do something else, or to go somewhere else.”

As we shall see over the next few months, Paul returned to Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea and eventually to Corinth.

Along the way he preached the gospel and worked to edify those churches.

Then after a considerable time, the man of God, along with some ambassadors from the churches, arrived in Jerusalem.

But as we shall see at that point, the plans of this mere man, developed in a fashion that he had not expected.

Paul eventually reached Rome, and as he had planned it was basically his first stop after Jerusalem,

But he didn’t arrive in the Roman capital on a white charger.

He arrived in chains, lead by Roman soldiers.

Yes, God does move in mysterious ways.

Paul’s dreams were accomplished but they were developed according to God’s plans and not Paul’s

Life will not be what most of us hope or expect,

But if we love the Lord, not only will all things work together for our good,

But they will work together in a fashion that pleases and glorifies the Lord.

Its our job to submit every dream and every hope to the sovereign approval of God.

Its our job to be willing to change our plans so that the Lord receives all the glory that He deserves.