God’s Grace for His Servants

Introduction

Widow who has food provided

there are many who want to live for the Lord but are fearful of what that means, will he provide

Paul is on to his next major city, Corinth

a flourishing center of political power, commerce and sexual immorality

greek word korinthiazesthai - “to live like a Corinthian” came to mean to live in immorality

Acts 18:1–22 CSB

1 After this, he left Athens and went to Corinth, 2 where he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul came to them, 3 and since they were of the same occupation, tentmakers by trade, he stayed with them and worked. 4 He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and tried to persuade both Jews and Greeks. 5 When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself to preaching the word and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah. 6 When they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his clothes and told them, “Your blood is on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” 7 So he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God, whose house was next door to the synagogue. 8 Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, along with his whole household. Many of the Corinthians, when they heard, believed and were baptized. 9 The Lord said to Paul in a night vision, “Don’t be afraid, but keep on speaking and don’t be silent. 10 For I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you to hurt you, because I have many people in this city.” 11 He stayed there a year and a half, teaching the word of God among them. 12 While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack against Paul and brought him to the tribunal. 13 “This man,” they said, “is persuading people to worship God in ways contrary to the law.” 14 As Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrongdoing or of a serious crime, it would be reasonable for me to put up with you Jews. 15 But if these are questions about words, names, and your own law, see to it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of such things.” 16 So he drove them from the tribunal. 17 And they all seized Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal, but none of these things mattered to Gallio. 18 After staying for some time, Paul said farewell to the brothers and sisters and sailed away to Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. He shaved his head at Cenchreae because of a vow he had taken. 19 When they reached Ephesus he left them there, but he himself entered the synagogue and debated with the Jews. 20 When they asked him to stay for a longer time, he declined, 21 but he said farewell and added, “I’ll come back to you again, if God wills.” Then he set sail from Ephesus. 22 On landing at Caesarea, he went up to Jerusalem and greeted the church, then went down to Antioch.

PRAY!

God provides what his servants need to serve him faithfully. Paul is able to make money, gain encouragement and safety for God’s kingdom and glory.

Importance of Corinth in the Roman world

population of up 750,000 people, with multiple trade routes

all of the cities on this missionary journey have been important cities

Exalting Jesus in Acts Gospel Ministry in an Immoral Culture (Acts 18:1–22)

Timothy Keller helpfully says Athens was like Boston, an intellectual center; Corinth was like New York City, a commercial center; Ephesus was like Los Angeles, a popular culture and occult center; and Rome was like Washington, DC; it was the political center (Evangelism, 161).

Our first night here

moved here on Saturday, July 21, 2007

no pictures because there was no instagram

Kids were sick… really bad stomach bug

threw up all over Walt and Gwen’s cabin

next day was my first Sunday here, so I came to church by myself

meaning I left Heather with the three sick kids,

cleaning, crying and overwhelmed

Providing for Everyday Needs

Truth is we were both overwhelmed

she was overwhelmed for several reasons

one of the main things, the kids were sick, we were not in our house yet, everything we owned was pack in a uhaul truck outside the cabin, we had no food, no medicine or even anything to give the kids, like Pedolite

being new here we did not even know where to go to get anything or when we were going to be able to do it

we did not know when we would move into our house yet

then I came to church…

on some tables in the fellowship hall were more groceries than I could load into the van I was driving because we still had stuff in the van as well.

Acts 18:1–4 CSB

1 After this, he left Athens and went to Corinth, 2 where he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul came to them, 3 and since they were of the same occupation, tentmakers by trade, he stayed with them and worked. 4 He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and tried to persuade both Jews and Greeks.

Paul makes his way to Corinth and links up with Aquila and Priscilla

these two came to Corinth because of a decree that Claudius had made that the Jews had to leave Rome

a previous decree had gone out saying that Jews could not gather any longer, must have been in effective, they now had to leave the city all together

this puts the date of Paul’s trip to Corinth about 50-51AD

same trade tent makers - Paul worked with them during the week and went to the synagogue on the sabbath

the ability to work and provide for yourself is a blessing that God gives us

a way of meeting our physical needs

we were created to work

work was in the garden before sin was

we forget that at times and think that work came after sin as a punishment

work is good for people, we were created to work

the hardness of work is what was a result of man’s sin

Acts 18:5 CSB

5 When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself to preaching the word and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah.

With Timothy and Silas arriving, now Paul can devote himself to the proclamation of God’s word full time

what would have changed… most believe that Timothy and Silas brought provisions from the Macedonian church with them

now Paul is able to lay aside the tentmaking and devote himself to the ministry

note… there is not a note that Paul complained about this time of tentmaking

if this is what needed to be done to provide this is what he did

in the mean time, he did not stop proclaiming God’s word either

no pity party, no whining, no feeling sorry for himself, just get to work

some look at ministry as an either or proposition

I am in the work force or I am in the ministry

as if you cannot do both

what is God calling you to do

have you even asked him…

working in ministry does not mean that you have to quit your job, you can serve in the church

I believe God has laid out a blueprint in scripture that the church in America has started to get away from

if somebody goes into the ministry the church sends them away to get schooling (not knocking schooling)

then hire somebody from outside the church to come and lead them

there is this blueprint in the Bible called discipleship

Providing for Emotional Needs

Heather and I were both overwhelmed that day

her because of the kids, the unknown,

she felt alone, homeless, and this feeling of what are we doing

I was overwhelmed because I could not change the equation

I felt the emotional lift as I came to church and saw all the stuff that the church had collected for us

this is before smart phones, so I was not texting a picture back to Heather, it would have taken the entire church time to press the numbers so many times to get the right words to her

Once Paul begins this full time work in Corinth he immediately faces a challenge

this seems to be a pattern everywhere he goes

proclaim that Jesus is the messiah that the Jews had been looking for

the Jews would argue, then attack him, physically hurt him and then he would go to another city to have it happen all over again

I can only imagine that this would get old and no he can see the pattern start again here

Acts 18:6–8 CSB

6 When they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his clothes and told them, “Your blood is on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” 7 So he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God, whose house was next door to the synagogue. 8 Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, along with his whole household. Many of the Corinthians, when they heard, believed and were baptized.

Luke uses different wording to describe this scene than in previous cities

in other places we saw jealousy from the jews when people were turning to the faith

here, they resisted and were blasphemous

resisted - oppose with hostility

blaspheme - to slander God

Paul has had enough of the Jews and states that he will go to the Gentiles instead

this does not mean that he is done with the Jews forever

read in Romans 10-11 if you want to see Paul’s heart for his Jewish people

but there are up 750,000 people in the mostly Gentile city

so he shakes the dust off of his clothes,

their blood is on their own heads,

this is what Paul gets into in Romans 11, where the disbelieving Jews have been cut off from the olive tree and the Gentiles have been grafted in

Paul leaves the synagogue and goes… next door to a worshipper of God’s house named, Titius Justus

Many believe with this scenario, Paul is frustrated and almost depressed and the Lord gives him a gift… a vision

In a dream, a vision the Lord comes to Paul

Acts 18:9–10 CSB

9 The Lord said to Paul in a night vision, “Don’t be afraid, but keep on speaking and don’t be silent. 10 For I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you to hurt you, because I have many people in this city.”

the Lord gives Paul 3 assurances in this time

the most important - I am with you

it is scary how quick we write this one off

it is said that there are 365 times that the Bible says do not be afraid, one for every day of the week, each followed by I am with you

This is what Paul meant in Philippians 4:13 “13 I am able to do all things through him who strengthens me.”

I can say what I have to say, do what I am called to do because he is with me

so many do not feel God with them

it is because we are doing what we want to do, not what he has called us to do

he hasn’t left, he is just patiently waiting for you to quit chasing after the world and follow him instead of taking him along with you

No one will hurt you, keep speaking

this is going to be a different place than where Paul had been before

the beatings, the stoning are not going to happen here

third - There is a lot of people in the city that belong to the Lord

maybe not yet, but there is a lot of people here Paul that are my children and I want you to preach to them

not just a lot of work for Paul to do, but also knowing that there is a large family of God there for him

That is where we were

I expressed before that we visited the church on the weekend that Greensburg got hit by the tornado

we witnessed how this church body was willing to step up and help them

now we were able to feel the same generosity and love from the church family here

Providing for Physical Needs

I left church that Sunday morning and went into Hanston and grabbed the u-haul truck, Heather and the kids came out in our minivan and went to our house in the country

when we got there, it felt like the entire church was there

Heather stood inside the house, it wasn’t ready for us to move in, so stuff had to just be piled into the house in certain rooms

she was directing traffic to the best of her ability to keep up

our oldest was laying on the front porch throwing up of the side

Larry Frusher said he had never seen a truck packed with so much stuff

there was physically no way for Heather and I to get this all done on our own

Paul had stayed in Corinth for 18 months making many disciples and the Jews had enough

they planned an attack on Paul and brought him to a tribunal

Acts 18:12–17 CSB

12 While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack against Paul and brought him to the tribunal. 13 “This man,” they said, “is persuading people to worship God in ways contrary to the law.”

we do not know if the Jews meant that Paul was accused of violating Roman law or Jewish law

Roman law would be that he is saying there is another Lord than Caesar

Jewish law that he is violating their ways of worship

either way, Gallio has no part in this

Acts 18:12–17 CSB

14 As Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrongdoing or of a serious crime, it would be reasonable for me to put up with you Jews. 15 But if these are questions about words, names, and your own law, see to it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of such things.” 16 So he drove them from the tribunal. 17 And they all seized Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal, but none of these things mattered to Gallio.

we do not know why

speculation is that because he is now the leader of the synagogue and people were leaving to follow Paul

or that he himself became a believer

most believe this is the same Sosthenes from 1 Corinthians 1:1 “1 Paul, called as an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will, and Sosthenes our brother:”

shows the evilness of man without God

We can get lost in all of this, but what we see is the the promise God made to Paul was kept

Paul was kept physically safe in Corinth

Paul heads out after spending a lot of time there and goes to Ephesus, the Los Angelos of the day from the Keller quote

he is there for a brief time and ends up back where he started in Antioch

at the church that sent him out

The Lord did not do these things because of Paul

It is not because of Paul’s speaking skills

many believe he was not the best preacher

it is not because of anything of Paul

Paul was a man with a horrible past of killing and torturing believers

it was for the glory of God and his kingdom

Paul is the instrument in the hands of God

That is what we all are, instruments in the hands of God

he will use you, care for you and be with you for his glory, to grow his kingdom

our part is to trust and obey and He will be faithful

Discussion Questions

Who were Aquila and Priscilla, and why were they significant in Paul’s ministry?

In what way did Paul provide for himself while he was in Corinth?

What did Paul experience in the synagogue of Corinth, and how did he respond to the opposition he faced?

What was the significance of God’s assurance to Paul in a night vision during his time in Corinth?

What does the phrase 'Your blood is on your own heads' signify in the context of Paul’s ministry?

How did God provide for Paul's emotional and physical needs during his time in Corinth?

How did Gallio’s response to the accusations against Paul reflect the political climate of the time?

Why is it important that Paul continued his ministry work despite facing opposition?