Acts 18:1-11

Living for Christ in a Land of Fear

Introduction

Crossroads Church,

Thank you for the opportunity to worship with you this morning. My name is David Lundin and I come to you, in a sense, as a stranger. It is scary to be a stranger, but this is the House of God and I am no stranger in that house today. I come to you from Ludington, where I live and work. I am an elder at Trinity Evangelical Free Church, and some of you may recognize Enoch and Joan Olson - a beloved brother and sister in Christ, who attend there as well. I send you their joyous greetings!

I am thrilled to dig into the Word with you today. We are going to continue in your series in the Book of Acts, but before we get there.. let’s pray.

Heavenly Father, what a blessing it is to gather and worship with your people. I pray for our time this morning and for your Spirit to move in our hearts and minds. May we be struck by the reality of your Word and by the reality of your great love for us. May you be glorified in and through us. In Jesus name, Amen.

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I want to show you a picture.

I know everybody’s thinking about football today… but, no, that’s not an old petrified football. It’s a sculpture representing a torch.

In ancient Corinth, there was an event regularly held called the Isthmian Games. Corinth is located on the Corinthian isthmus (go ahead say that really fast..), and this event, like a few others, were the forerunner of our modern day olympics. There were several sporting events, but the highlight of the event was the relay race.

The competitors would line up side by side at the starting line, each one bearing a torch… and in the distance waited still another line of men, and still farther on other lines...

When the signal was given, the men started to run, bearing their lighted torches.... when a runner reached his partner in the next line he would pass on his light, and so on from man to man until the finish line was reached.

With this famous race in mind, the Greeks coined a phrase: “Let those who have the light pass it on.”

This is a good picture for us who call ourselves Christ-followers.

It is a good question because we have to ask ourselves, as followers of Jesus, what it is that we believe.

Because our belief system propels us forward in life. It is what determines why we get up in the morning and it is what guides the decisions that we make throughout the day.

Why are you here today?

Why do you live where you do?

Why do you do what you do?

Our belief system determines the direction of our lives.

We have a quote up on our wall at home. We love it. It says “How you spend your days is how you spend your life.”

Truth.

I’m asking these questions because in our narrative, story, today, we are looking specifically at a man, Paul. We are looking at a man that has a belief system, faith in Jesus Christ being his Lord and Savior - the redemptive Savior of the World, in fact, and who is living his life in light of this belief system. Passing the light.

But the reality, for us, is that not only do we battle our own selfishness - but we have an adversary, too. The Edenic serpent father of lies and falsehood.

Satan, the devil, the evil one, the jerk… has many talents and many tricks up his sleeve. But one of his best tricks, perhaps, is that of distraction.

Distraction is running rampant in our culture today and Satan loves it when you are distracted enough to fail or fall short in your abilities to live out your belief system and your calling as a follower of Jesus.

He loves it.

Another of his tricks is the spirit of fear. If only I can make them afraid...

But he is not the victor in our story and there is no force strong enough to impede the work of Jesus in this world.

You have been moving through the book of Acts as a church - that is fantastic. What a marvelous book and what a colorful beginning of the church of Jesus Christ. So many obstacles. So many arguments. And, yet, here we are today. The church throughout time has been imperfect, has made mistakes, has fallen short of its mission. But this isn’t our church. If it was our church, it’d be long gone by now… like a failed business enterprise.

No, this is the church of Jesus Christ. This is His church. And He has a purpose for it and He has a plan for it and He has a desire for it to partake in His mission to save and redeem broken and sinful people. Jesus invites us, as His followers, to partake in His mission.

Jesus spoke to His disciples on the Mount of Galilee.. Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you… and surely I am with you always, to the very end of age.

Jesus calls His disciples, His followers, to a life of discipleship. Follow Jesus & Make Disciples. Kingdom Multiplication.

Say you’ve discovered an incredible restaurant. Food is terrific, service is wonderful and you can’t wait to go back. Do you hide that information to yourself? Do you vow to never tell anyone?

No! That’s dumb. Nobody does that. We sprint to tell our family, friends and to bring them along. Same if we read a good book or watch a great show. We sprint to tell.

How much more, does it not, make sense to go tell others of the hope that we have found? Of the fountain of living water. Of our redemption in Jesus.

In the church we call this evangelism.

It’s everybodys favorite word. Evangelism.

Let’s go evangelize!

Let’s be more evangelistic!

Truth to be told - I don’t think you’re excited when I say that. Many of us will say, i’ll do anything but that! Please - i’ll bake cookies, shake hands, mop the floor.. anything… but, please - don’t make me go evangelize. We can let the youth group do that...

This is detrimental - but it is common. It is a shame - but it is a travesty that we can overcome.

It is so common because it is rooted in something so fundamental to all of our experience of life - fear. Fear of failure, fear of inadequacy, fear of rejection. Humans like to be safe. Humans like to be comfortable. We do not like to stretch ourselves out into the realms of the unknown and to the great heights of vulnerability.

So we put evangelism on the back burner and “save it for another time.” But it needs to be a part of who we are. It needs to be a part of our belief system. Why? Well, the simplest answer is because Jesus said so.

Because He wants to redeem those who are dead in their sin and lost in this world. He wants to bring us back to God. He wants all to experience the riches of knowing Him.

Because He is a good thing. He is the Best Thing. And you don’t keep good things to yourself.

Let those who have the light pass it on.

And today, in our narrative, we’re going to look at and study the perhaps best evangelist of Christian history. Paul. And when we do so, I think you will discover that he was not unlike us. But he shares something with us that enabled him to live faithfully, despite the reality of fear, and to do the work of spreading the Gospel - and how we can do this work, too, because of this reality.

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I. 18:1-4. Paul arrives in Corinth and settles into a rhythm of faithfulness and a life of evangelism.

Chapter 18, verse 1-4:

After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, 3 and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them. 4 Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.

Paul, as you know, is on his second missionary journey and has been traveling for a while at this point. You remember the recent visit to Thessalonica where the angry mob forced Paul to slip out under the cover of the night to Berea, which was a much better experience, but… the troublemakers in Thessalonica ended up chasing after him there too.

Paul’s time in Athens was short but fruitful. Some rejected him and the Gospel, yet others came to experience life-changing grace and came to Jesus through his ministry.

Now, however, Paul has travelled about 50 miles southwest to the city of Corinth, on the Corinthian isthmus. Corinth, at the time, was actually the cosmopolitan center of Greece. It was a major hub of commerce and as perhaps fitting for a place like this, the greek word for living immorally basically translated to “Live like a Corinthian.” What a great place to do ministry!

Here, Paul bumps into another jew - Aquila and his wife Priscilla. They’ve made their way to Corinth because Claudius, the emperor of Rome, has now kicked the Jews out of Rome - Historical records tell us that there was tumult in Rome amongst the jews at the time over Christ. Jewish Christians, in Rome, were seen as ringleaders in the jewish unrest over “Chrestus” and Aquila and Priscilla, were amongst this group.

Paul, leaving a difficult time in Thessalonica and Berea behind him, begins to settle into life in Corinth.

He meets fellow Jewish believers who, as him, were tent-makers! So he stays with them and goes to work.

We might be quick to wonder why Paul is working. Isn’t he on a missionary journey? Should he not hurry up to spread the gospel?

A couple things here..

Paul, evidently, was out of money. He worked out of necessity. He talks about this in his letters several times. He was a human, like us, and needed shelter and food too. I can relate to Paul in this. He’s a tent-maker, but I am actually a tent-renter. My family runs and operates a campground & RV park in Ludington. I think if Paul were alive today, we’d make great business partners! Paul made tents, I rent out the dirt where you put your tent. Sometimes, you do what you have to do.

But, he still did the work of spreading the Gospel, even if it was at a slower pace. Every day he’d wake up and go to work building and crafting tents. Their tents, of course, were nothing like the plastic sheets we have today. They were proper short-term shelter, usually crafted with leather and wood. This was actually quite a lucrative business in Corinth. You see, the games drew a lot of visitors. Back then, they didn’t have Holiday Inns nor any Motel 6’s… they’d bunk up in tents! Paul dedicated himself to his craft every day - except one. From sundown on Friday to nightfall on Saturday, Paul observed the Jewish sabbath.

We might be tempted to think in a linear fashion that the highest calling of a Christ-follower is to become a pastor or full-time minister. We are blessed to have pastors but, really, the highest calling of a Christ-follower is to follow Christ, love God and love people, growing each day. Paul reveals to us that this is something we all can attain and accomplish. There is no Biblical framework for grandstand Christians, perhaps visiting church on Sunday and leaving the “real work” for the professionals. That is false thinking and it is dangerous. If Christ has called you, He has called you to a life of apprenticeship under Him. Follow me, learn from me, do as I do… and teach others to do the same. And there are some of you that are in the unique position of being the only follower of Christ in that sphere - be it your family, school, work, friend group...

On every sabbath while in Corinth, we read, Paul reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.

Paul would work hard all day - along his new friends Aquila and Priscilla, and on Sabbath he would make his way to the synagogue to spread the Gospel.

We need to look closer at the word reason here, because we might expect Paul to be standing behind a pulpit of sorts… speaking to the people there…

But the word, in greek, is dialegomai. It is the root of our word dialogue. Paul was conversing. He was talking. Every Sabbath, he met Jews and Greeks in the synagogue for conversations. Gospel conversations.

Paul was living a life of evangelism even when he had to interrupt his active missionary journey by working a mundane and ordinary job like everybody else. He took time each week to meet with people and to have intentional conversations with them.

We might think that the idea of being an evangelist is to carry a soap-box to some city park, stand on it and shout angrily at people… we have all seen these examples.

I think what we see from Paul here is something completely different. We can be evangelists where we are. Maybe, for some of us, that means the workplace. For others, maybe it is the regular visit to the coffee shop and the regular interaction with the barista. Maybe it is the slow but regular invitation to have someone over for dinner.

And, parents, don’t ever believe that evangelism is something that just takes place outside of your home. If you are raising children, you are living and breathing evangelists of your home. Tell them about Jesus. Have conversations about the Gospel. Talk about the hope of knowing Christ. Discuss how the light shines in the darkness.

If you know Jesus, you are carrying a torch. Let him who has the light pass it on. Just like in the relay race where you’re supposed to hand off the torch to the next guy, we must share the light of Christ with those around us. We must.

Paul knew this. And so we see Paul settling into a life of faithful and regular Gospel mission and work in Corinth.

II. 18:5-8. Silas and Timothy arrives and Paul goes all-out in his ministry, and opposition ensues.

But the narrative shifts in verse 5. Paul who had been rushed off to Athens, for his safety, had left Silas and Timothy behind, Timothy likely in Thessalonica and Silas in Philippi. Certainly, Paul must have worried for their safety.

Yet, they have now arrived in Corinth to be with Paul. I can almost close my eyes and the see the happy reunion.

Verse 5: When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah.

We notice a pretty significant change of pace here. Obviously, Paul is encouraged and strengthened by having his friends and partners back. But more than just encouragement, they likely brought with them gifts from these churches. We can pick up on this in his letters. Prior to this, Paul was limited in his ministry by his simple needs. He had to support himself. With a portfolio of seven days in a week, he devoted six to working so that he could spend the seventh day talking to people about Jesus. This is a beautiful picture of the early church understanding and comprehending the larger mission of spreading the gospel, a mission that has reached us who are here today - 2,000 years later. A mission that we now get to be a part of ourselves.

Now? Now he devotes himself exclusively to preaching. He puts down his tools and moves to spend all of his time on sharing the Gospel with the Jews.

But, we’re going to see, it appears that the Jews in Corinth were able to handle the one-day a week thing. They put up with Paul and his ministry when they could forget about him the other six days.

There’s something about intensity and momentum.

Illustration: I’m sure some of you watched the Lions heartbreaking loss to the 49’ers the other week. For those of you that didn’t… there was a significant shift in the game. The Lions came out strong and by half-time, they were leading the game 21 to 7. The 49ers didn’t have much to say and were held at bay. But after half-time, they came out on the field with tremendous intensity. The ball began to bounce in their favor and the Lions struggled to hold them back. The Lions had a much harder time dealing with a team that shifted towards passion and intensity, and ultimately ended up losing the game.

Intensity and momentum changed the direction of the game.

When Paul begins to intensify his ministry in Corinth, the jews begin to resist.

Look at verse 6.

But when they opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent of it. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.

They begin to oppose him and even become abusive. It’s the riot in Thessalonica about to be taking place again. What Paul is saying and preaching is so offensive to the jews that they just can’t deal with him any longer. The crowd just gets mad. There is power and intensity in Paul’s preaching and it is hitting the jews and they don’t want to deal with it.

But Paul, experienced enough now to see the pattern, shakes out his clothes. “Your blood be on your own heads!” he says. “From now on I will go to the Gentiles,” I am done with you guys!

The prophet Nehemia, in his day, shook out his clothes, too. In mimicking this prophetic sign of judgment, Paul is warning them of the picture of God shaking them out of His house . Then, he hurls two incredibly strong statements at them. Like Ezekiel, he has warned the Jews of God’s coming judgment and is no longer responsible for them. Their destruction is no longer his responsibility but theirs. He has told them. He has made the Gospel clear. There is nothing else that he can do. And since they have rejected the Gospel, he is turning to the Gentiles instead.

There’s a couple things that we need to clarify here.

1) It is not in our power nor part of our responsibility to save people. We can’t save anybody. I can’t save anybody. You can’t. Paul couldn’t. Only the Holy Spirit can. Evangelism isn’t about saving people.

2) But we can make sure that we are obedient to Jesus and that we preach the Gospel. That is our responsibility.

3) If someone hears the Gospel, and receives the Gospel message… who is responsible? God is.

4) If someone hears the Gospel… even through you… and they accept it… you are not responsible. God is.

And you don’t want this responsibility. Because if you are to receive the credit when someone accepts the Gospel, then you are on the hook for when they reject it. But you are not.

So, we might ask, if someone hears the Gospel message and rejects it… who is responsible for the rejection? Well, they are.

Your blood be on your own heads, Paul said. It’s not Paul’s problem if they reject it. It’s not your problem if someone rejects the message. It is that person and that person’s responsibility alone. That is their call. You are on your own. You are free to make your own decision.

You can hear the Gospel message and choose to reject it. But you need to know that the responsibility is yours.

But what happens if someone never hears the Gospel? What happens if someone in Evart, Michigan never hears the Gospel? What happens if someone at your place of work never hears the Gospel? What happens if someone at your school never hears the Gospel? What happens if someone in your family never hears the Gospel? Well, that is your responsibility. That is our responsibility.

That is why Paul tells the Jews in Corinth that he is innocent. He’s done his part. They’ve heard the message, but they’ve rejected it.. its on them.

But have you given the people of Evart, or the people you come across wherever you go, have you given them a chance to hear the message? Have you shined with the light of Jesus? Have you revealed that there is something fundamentally different about you?

When someone who has heard the message of the Gospel, but who has rejected it, one day stands before God...

Their own blood will be on their hands and heads. They are responsible.

When we, Christians, stand at the judgment seat of God… The Bible is clear that we will be held responsible for our actions. We see this strongly in Ezekiel 3 and 33, and certainly in Paul’s language too. We have a responsibility. It’s not about salvation. Our salvation is not jeopardized. But we will be judged and held accountable, because God has given us a responsibility. When we stand before the glory of God, reunited with our Heavenly Father - in the presence of our Saviour Jesus - God, surely, will ask us why we didn’t share our knowledge of Him with others.

Why did we hold a shining torch in the darkness, a torch that we did not pass?

Why didn’t we? Why don’t we? Is it because we are afraid? We fear rejection? Is it because we are too distracted and busy?

Paul did his part. He’s shared the Gospel, he’s told them about Jesus.. and they have chosen to reject him. Probably discouraged, yet he moves on to the Gentiles.

Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. 8 Crispus, the synagogue leader, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard Paul believed and were baptized.

So, okay, this is kind of funny.

Paul tells the jews that he’s done with them. He’s not going to try and influence them any longer. He’s shared the Gospel and they are responsible for their response. And he leaves… but he doesn’t go so far away that the jews never see him again. He doesn’t leave town. He doesn’t even go to the other side of town.

He goes next door, to the house of Titius Justus. They are still going to see him. They are still going to be reminded with the message that he left them with. They are going to be reminded of the judgment he warned them about.

And to make it worse.. Crispus, one of their leaders, has taken his whole family and left the synagogue to join Paul, as did several others… so some of them are choosing to believe. Some of them are acting on the gospel invitation. They are turning to Jesus and they are being baptized. Miraculously.

Paul, despite being rejected, is witnessing the great fruit of his labor. In the letter to the Corinthians he mentions baptizing Crispus himself.

What if Paul was so afraid of getting rejected that he left the Corinthians alone? After all, they were mean and scary and immoral and all these other things. But now, he’s baptizing a new brother in Christ. That’s all that matters. The others who rejected him and grumble to themselves.. that is their own decision.

1) If you are here today and you are just encountering Jesus.. this invitation is for you, too. Just as Jesus changed Pauls, Crispus, my life and the lives of countless of people in this building… Jesus wants to save and transform you, too. I invite you to turn from your sin to Jesus and I invite you to confess with your mouth that He is your Lord and Savior.

2) Maybe you have taken that step. Maybe you have turned to Jesus - hallelujah. But maybe you haven’t been baptized. Baptism isn’t about salvation, but it is about publically declaring your faith to the church. It matters. Can you imagine the joy in Paul’s eyes and in the others, baptizing Crispus and his family? What about you? Maybe you have come to believe, but you need to take the step of publically declaring your faith in Jesus.

3) And for others of you, maybe you just need to belong. Look at verse 11:

So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.

Paul didn’t baptize Crispus and hurry out of town. He stayed and formed the church for over a year and a half, faithfully teaching them in the Word and encouraging them each day. This is so beautiful. This is a picture of community and of belonging. Maybe the call to some of you today is not the invitation to faith or the invitation to get baptized - you have been a faithful believer for a long time. But what about belonging? What about staying together in a community of believers, here at Crossroads in Evart, growing in your faith and knowledge of the Lord - and reaching more and more people in Evart with the gospel of Jesus.

Is that your invitation? Is that what God is calling you to?

III. 18:9-11. God reassures Paul and enables him to carry out His mission.

Paul wanted to quit.

Paul wanted to give up.

He’s been chased out of all of these towns and he’s being rejected left and right. Perhaps, he’s getting tired.

But Paul was able to overcome his fear. Not by his own doing, but by the gentle encouragement of his God.

We’re going to wrap up here, but look at verse 9 and 10.

One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. 10 For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.”

People wanted to silence Paul. And Paul wanted to listen to them. Because it hurts to be rejected, it hurts to be ridiculed. For Paul, the persecution even went beyond that to physical acts of aggression. Who wouldn’t want to quit?

But God spoke to Paul and reassured him. Not only did he not have to be afraid, but God had given him a mission and wanted him to continue.

And faithfully, Paul carried on. And many came to faith in Jesus.

Joy overcomes the darkness. Hope overcomes the darkness. Jesus overcomes the darkness.

Satan wants to pull us away and discourage us. He wants to distract us and make us lose sight.

But we must not lose sight.

Application

Crossroads church,

What a blessing to share the word with you this morning.

I pray for you to take this message to heart. Because Jesus really matters.

I don’t know where you are at today, I don’t know your history and I certainly don’t know what God has in store for you.

But I do know that Jesus came into this world to do something remarkable.. I do know that the Gospel matters.

I’m going to end with two pictures.

The first picture is from 14 years ago.

That young guy is 18 years old.

He grew up in Sweden, a historically Christian nation, as an agnostic. Two years earlier, he befriended an American girl. She told him about Jesus, but he rejected her. After a while of her witness, he actually changed his Myspace profile. Remember Myspace? Yeah, you see.. he had Christianity listed as his affiliate religion. Because, culture, you know. But once he encountered Jesus, he changed the affiliation to atheism. Because he didn’t want anything to do with Jesus. He didn’t like any of it.

But the Gospel message chipped away at his heart, and here, in 2009, he publically proclaimed his profession of faith in Jesus Christ.

That guy is me.

The other two pictures, is our two oldest children, getting baptized last September.

The gospel matters, church. Jesus matters.

And because Jesus matters, it matters that we share him with others.

If my, now wife, had kept her hope in Jesus to herself.. or if she had stopped praying for me when I rejected her ministry… heaven would be short at least three people.

Don’t be afraid, church. Go forth. Don’t be silent. You hold the light, make sure that you pass it on. God is with you. Jesus is with you. And He is so, so good.

PRAYER

Father,

Blessed be your name. Thank you for your Word and for this story from Paul and the early church. May we be emboldened to be like Paul and the first Disciples, going forth not just in following Jesus - but in sharing the Gospel with those we encounter. May you continue to remind us of the great treasure of knowing Christ. I thank you for this congregation and I pray for your blessing upon them. May you bless them and enable them to faithfully go forth with your Gospel here in Evart.

In Jesus name, Amen.