The failure of appeasement

“Take them and be purified with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads, and that all may know that those things of which they were informed concerning you are nothing, but that you yourself also walk orderly and keep the law.” - Act 21v24

In the years preceding World War II nearly everything was done to try and satisfy Hitler. Neville Chamberlain was excited that by just giving up a little bit they had achieved “Peace in our time.” We all know the tragic results.

Appeasement was a part of the plans of the early church. We tend to thing because they were the early church they did everything right. When Paul came back to Jerusalem he found that the legalism fight was still raging. Rumours abounded that Paul was not only teaching that Gentiles did not need to keep the law, but that he was preaching against the law itself. In order to try and prove them wrong the church leaders suggested that Paul take four men and observe a ritual Jewish purification. Paul agreed and followed through.

As he and the men returned they were set upon by the crowd. Their efforts to appease the crowd had failed and the crowd set upon them, only to be rescued by the officials. Appeasement did nothing because Paul’s teaching was not the problem – it was the hearts of his accusers.

What does this mean for us today? There are all kinds pf pressures on us to day to conform to other’s standards and their opinions about how we should behave, the translation we should use, the music styles we should listen to, or the personal standards we should observe. While we must be very careful about offending and causing others to stumble, and while we should do all we can to avoid such offence, we err when we choose to appease just for the sake of appeasement. We must examine our choices in the light of God’s word. We must do all we can not to offend, but at the end of the day we must realise that appeasing men is not the answer.