Creating An Uproar

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

CREATING AN UPROAR

Acts 21:30-36

30 The whole city was aroused, and the people came running from all directions. Seizing Paul, they dragged him from the temple, and immediately the gates were shut. 31 While they were trying to kill him, news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar. 32 He at once took some officers and soldiers and ran down to the crowd. When the rioters saw the commander and his soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. 33 The commander came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. Then he asked who he was and what he had done. 34 Some in the crowd shouted one thing and some another, and since the commander could not get at the truth because of the uproar, he ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks. 35 When Paul reached the steps, the violence of the mob was so great he had to be carried by the soldiers. 36 The crowd that followed kept shouting, "Away with him!"

NIV

Once again, we see this mob mentality as the whole city was aroused. It is not possible for all the people that came running from all directions to know anything at all regarding Paul. This whole uproar was caused by a couple of Jews from the province of Asia. They weren’t even citizens of Jerusalem, but they created such fuss they stirred up a bunch of people around them, and then more and more people ran to join in the uproar, just to join in a riot. This tells us how dangerous the human mind can be, allowing someone else to control its behavior. This situation is no different than what we face with the enemy of our soul. Just a couple of Jews that got their sense of righteousness challenged created a citywide riot, and even caused the temple door to be shut, keeping Paul from being able to go back in. In Fact, they dragged Paul from the temple. However, the comparison is frightening between a few Jews and Satan. Just a few created chaos in the city, and we have to believe most of the people had no idea what the riot was about. Satan comes to us trying to create a riot within us, a revolution within us, to control our behavior. Here is where the danger lies for us. We might not even know who is starting the riot, as many of the people that came running from all directions had no idea who those few Jews were or what the chaos was about, they just joined in. Of course, when the cavalry arrived the crowd stopped beating Paul. Although there is more to this narrative and we will find some interesting events to explore, we cannot help but think about this mob mentality. We must be careful about whose voice we listen to and who is trying to influence our thoughts and the following behavior. We know God is not a God of confusion, and always speaks the truth. We also know that Satan is the father of lies, and he always wants to create confusion and chaos. The Jews did not create chaos because of evil within them, but because their conception of what was right was being challenged. It was about their religious righteousness. The evil one might well attempt to come within the community of faith as a light, as a righteous one, wanting to get us to join in, first in our mind, that something is wrong in the church, if we listen, chaos will ensue, first within ourselves, jealous, envy, our sense of righteousness being offered by something, or someone, gossip begins and soon people from all over the church come running into the fray. No one knows how this church slip happened, or who started it, but mod mentality came from one source. Instead, we should be like-minded, a mob of sorts, however, being a mob that is controlled by the mind of Christ through the power of the Spirit. We would think that if we were all excited together, creating an uproar, that people would come running from all over the city to join in the excitement. Let’s start creating an uproar.