Acts 18:1-17

Introduction:

Good morning,

If you have your Bibles let me invite you to open with me to the book of Acts chapter 18.

We will begin reading in verse 1 and read through verse 17 and then we will say a word of prayer for God to help us understand.

Acts 18:1–17 ESV

1 After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them, 3 and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade. 4 And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks. 5 When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. 6 And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” 7 And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue. 8 Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized. 9 And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, 10 for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.” 11 And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. 12 But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the tribunal, 13 saying, “This man is persuading people to worship God contrary to the law.” 14 But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrongdoing or vicious crime, O Jews, I would have reason to accept your complaint. 15 But since it is a matter of questions about words and names and your own law, see to it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of these things.” 16 And he drove them from the tribunal. 17 And they all seized Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal. But Gallio paid no attention to any of this.

Lets Pray

Acts 18:1 ESV

1 After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.

The mission continues.

When you stop and think about what was happening in the first century…., it really was remarkable.

These aren’t uneducated tribal people who are being fooled by magic and trickery throughout the first century.

A spiritual awakening is spreading from city to city in the ancient world.

These cities were laying the foundations of western civilization…

They were full of philosophers, and politicians, and architects, and writers, and poets, and artists…, and yet the news of a resurrected man named Jesus was causing people in every city to literally turn away from the gods of their ancestors and the cultural norms.

Yes opposition arose in every city, but as Paul was pushed out of each city, the gospel message stayed and continued to change people’s lives.

Now that disciples had been made in Athens, and opposition had arisen, Paul is on the move again.

He enters now the city of Corinth, a terribly wicked city known for its sexual promiscuity and commercial prosperity.

Corinth would have peen a uniquely challenging place to do ministry.

And at this point,

Paul appears to still be without his co-laborers Silas and Timothy.

They are still back in Macedonia discipling the new churches in Philippi, and Berea, and Thessalonica.

They are supposed to meet up with Paul to continue the journey, but haven’t caught up to him yet.

But.... when Paul enters Corinth,

God graciously provides two new co-laborers to help him in the work.

look at verse 2.

Acts 18:2–4 ESV

2 And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them, 3 and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade. 4 And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.

Verse 2 is one of those verses you can read over quickly without meditating on the reality of the circumstances described.

Priscilla and Aquila were a real married couple in real history who labored as tent-makers in Rome.

They were Jews who apparently had become Christians

and presumably were a part of the first Christian church in Rome…

a church that Paul had not planted.

Remember, Christianity was spreading not just by the known apostles,

but by the un-named Christians scattering throughout the empire.

Rome was likely started by the visitors from Rome who were in Jerusalem when Peter preached the first Christian sermon.

Acts 2 tells us who was present for that sermon.

Acts 2:10 ESV

10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome,

These visitors from Rome heard the gospel preached by Peter, believed, were baptized, and then took the gospel back to Rome.

Either Priscilla and Aquila were there or they heard the gospel from a church planted by someone who was there.

Their lives were changed forever, but it wasn’t long before persecution came in Rome,

just as it followed Paul wherever he went.

The Jewish community in Rome appears to have been disrupted by the Christian movement just as it had in other cities…,

but the Roman emperor did not play around when it came to uprisings or disturbances..

He solved the issue by just exiling all the Jews from Rome.

Imagine, if you came to Christ full of hope and zeal and excitement for your new found salvation and the kingdom of God and the mission of God…

And then the government decrees your immediate exile from your home,

your livelihood,

your church,

and all of your relationships.

This is what Priscilla and Aquila had been through.

Imagine all of the painful details to that untold story.

Why in the world did God allow this?

Why displace them like this?

Why thrust them into such uncertainty,

and such difficulty in a new city where they had to start all over?

Where is God in this?

what is he doing?

Perhaps you have similarly asked those why questions.

We aren’t told how long Priscilla and Aquila had been in Corinth starting back up their tent making business…

but from our perspective….., 2,000 years later, we can see the fingeprints of God.

the providence of God

The sovereignty of God.

The apostle Paul lands in Corinth, a place he will need to stay and labor in for a year and a half.

He needs co-laborers,

He needs a place to stay,

He needs a way to provide for himself.

And he finds Priscilla and Aquila…,

Christians who are positioned not only to labor in the gospel with him, but to labor in the same business of tent making.

Priscilla and Aquila, due to what seemed to be awful circumstances were exactly where God wanted them to be.

Truth #1 God is Sovereign Over Our Situation

No doubt there were significant seasons of wondering what God was doing in Priscilla and Aquila’s life..,

But God was doing something.

God was working.

God was positioning them to use them in ways they never could have imagined.

Later we will see that through their ministry, the great teacher Apollos would actually be discipled and would become an influential Christian teacher.

In fact, Paul highlights Prisca and Aquila’s ministry at the end of Romans

Romans 16:3–4 ESV

3 Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, 4 who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks but all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks as well.

In what Prisca and Aquila experienced as an extremely difficult situation....

God was working to accomplish his mission in ways that would bear fruit beyond their wildest imaginations.

This little section of Acts 18 carries us through highlights of Paul’s ministry in Corinth…,

but the emphasis of the text isn’t just Paul’s ministry…,

the emphasis is on God’s sovereignty over the ministry.

God’s prerogative to carry his mission to the ends of the earth through his people.

God sovereignly provided co-laborers through their difficult expulsion from Rome.

but not just their expulsion…

God’s sovereignty extends to all the details,

even the details of their vocation.

Truth #1 God is Sovereign Over Our Situation

Truth #2 God is Sovereign Over Our Vocation

When Paul learned to weave leather hides together and make tents as a boy….,

do you think he knew he would be using that skill to plant churches to worship the resurrected Messiah throughout the Roman empire?

What about Priscilla and Aquila?

When they picked up that trade,

did they know that it would be that trade that enabled them to uniquely partner with the apostle Paul in his church planting endeavors?

God’s sovereign work started in their lives long before they even had the categories to understand what he might be doing.

Your location,

your vocation,

your giftings

and your opportunities are not simply results of randomized decisions you made.

God’s not accidental with his people.

He’s not wishing he would have paid more attention to what his people were doing.

He uses it all for the good of his people

He uses it all for his glorious great commission.

Our role is to be submissive to his will,

to pursue his glory,

to pursue him,

and walk through the doors he opens.

As John Piper said at the missions conference for college students a couple years ago…

“You Don’t Plan Your Life”

As much as you would like to think that you do…, you cannot plan your life.

I grew up in the home of a prosecuting attorney.

When I was little,

and I would get in trouble for something…. my dad taught me not to argue in erratic or irrational ways….,

he taught me to ask this question even as a kid

The phrase he taught me to use when I would get in trouble was this: “may I make an appeal”

after which he would give me a set amount of time to make my argument as to why I was not guilty or why I didn’t deserve a severe punishment.

My mom hated this arrangement, but it was a very small way, that I began to learn to speak concisely and clearly.

My dad is a good lawyer,

he makes sound arguments for a living,

I remember him working with me as a middle schooler late into the night for a science presentation on what kind of foam was used in soccer shinguards.

It was the first time I spoke publicly, but he taught me certain mechanics of speaking and he critiqued my note cards for the presentation.

At that point in my life, Nobody thought I would one day preach for a living.

I was very often the class clown. I was not studious whatsoever. I didn’t read books of any kind, much less religious books.

But I can look back on every season of my life,

and now in retrospect I can see the seemingly random doors that were opened,

and the seemingly random people who led me to make particular decisions.

I went on a mission trip with a youth group when I was 15, because there were a couple pretty girls going who I was interested

I wasn’t seeking some grandiose plan for my life.

And on that trip, God changed my understanding of the mission of my life

he deepened my relationship with a youth pastor at the time which triggered a domino effect over the next five years.

I chose one particular bible college because I could play college soccer their.

I chose New Orleans Seminary in part because my professors recommended it and I had gotten an audio book by this guy named David Platt who had graduated from their.

I went to FBC Kenner, because the pastor their just happened to be the guy charged with driving me around the city for my campus preview.

I only found out that St. Rose, Louisiana existed, because this little dying church needed someone to fill the pulpit while their pastor was out of town and they called FBC Kenner and they sent me.

I haven’t planned my life.

I have just walked through doors the Lord has opened thus far in my life.

You have not planned your life.

You have walked through doors…

Some of those doors you have busted down in your sin, and rebellion.

but God’s not lost on what to do with you now.

He’s not confused.

He’s not distracted.

He’s not incapable of using the broken pieces for his purposes.

He’s sovereign and if for some reason he taught you how to build tents….

he can use your tent building skills for the glory of God among the nations.

But recognize that the tent-building work primarily served another kind of work.

look at verse 5..

Acts 18:5 ESV

5 When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus.

The tent-building work served the word-work.

Paul was occupied with the word because of the support of the tent-building.

God was working through his working.

And God is working through your working…

How has God sovereignly placed you in your situation and your vocation to make his glory known?

Don’t gauge whether it’s God’s plan based on whether it is easy or not?

For Paul, it was often not easy.

God’s working through Paul’s working was always met with resistance.

It was never just easy as we may want it to be.

verses 6 -11 take us through ups and downs, encouragements, and discouragements… but through it all one truth rises to the top.

look at verse 6.

Acts 18:6–11 ESV

6 And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” 7 And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue. 8 Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized. 9 And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, 10 for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.” 11 And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

A couple things to see in these four verses.

firstly, notice Paul’s reaction when the Jews in the synagogue opposed him and reviled him for his message about Jesus.

Acts 18:6 ESV

6 And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

What is Paul doing here?

Well first of all, he is alluding to Scripture.

In Ezekiel chapter 3, The Lord spoke to the prophet Ezekiel and said that it was the responsibility of a prophet to speak the word of the Lord and warn the people of coming judgment.

If he didn’t warn them, then their blood was on his hands.

But if he did, then it was on their own heads.

Paul is saying…I have done what is required of me.

I have proclaimed the message.

I have issued the warning.

I have said everything God has called me to say.

And I am free of the consequences that are coming your way.

the shaking out of the garments was a symbolic act for being free of responsibility for someone else’s failures and free of from any ties to someone or something that was unclean.

Paul could absolve himself of responsibility…, because he believed his role was that of a truth proclaimer.

He did not have the power to cause anyone to believe.

He only had the responsibility to share the message.

Some rejected, some believed, but that was God’s work, not Paul’s

Truth #3 God is Sovereign Over Our Salvation

The story now pans to those who did believe.

A worshiper of God who lived literally next door to the synagogue believed in Jesus.

Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord.

His whole household believed in the Lord

Many Corinthians believed…

Side note* 45 second commercial break from the main event to say a word about baptism… just like in the previous cities, and just like with the first converts in Acts 2, and just like the command of Matthew 28…, they believed and then they were baptized.

Faith comes before baptism..,

baptism is the symbolic profession of what you have believed.

You cannot make a Biblical argument for the baptism of a baby,

nor can you make an argument for someone who says they have faith in Jesus, but not enough faith to proclaim that faith through baptism.

Baptism is God’s plan for visibly and publicly setting a part those who are a part of the new people of God and those who are not.

Commercial break ended*

Now at this point…, if you have been following the story thus far…, you can kind of expect whats going to happen next.

Now even the leader of the synagogue has come to faith in Jesus…,

a movement has begun in the city of Corinth,

which means the opposition and the persecution is coming…,

Already we have seen the reviling of Paul by many in the Synagogue, but how long now before it gets physically violent, or politically involved.

Paul has been forced out of the last three cities.., and you kind of expect his time in Corinth to be cut short here…,

But this time, God intervenes with another dream…

Imagine the difficulty of discerning whether its time to pick up and leave a city or stay longer at the risk of being killed or imprisoned.

In the previous three cities, Paul and his co-laborers have decided that it would be best for Paul to quickly move to the next city so that the missionary journey may continue…, And those decisions were not wrong…, God continued to bless those decisions…,

but this time, God intervened with a dream.

Acts 18:9–11 ESV

9 And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, 10 for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.” 11 And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

Now there is a couple things to comment on here, but first notice the reason why God as instructed Paul to stay.

verse 10…, “For I have many in this city who are my people.”

Do you see the way in which God is describing Paul’s mission.

Its not as if the eternal God is up in heaven sitting on his throne with his fingers crossed as to the success of Paul’s mission.

God is sovereignly saving people through Paul’s mission.

Paul, you need to stay in Corinth and preach because their are many people who are my people….

there are many people whom I have set my affection on before the foundation of the world in this city, whom I will save…,

Its not the first time we have seen language like this in Acts.

Acts 13:48 ESV

48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.

Acts 15:13–14 ESV

13 After they finished speaking, James replied, “Brothers, listen to me. 14 Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name.

God is not passive in the mission.

He is active.

He is sovereign.

He is the accomplisher of his mission.

He is graciously saving sinners who would otherwise continue on reviling him and rejecting him.

God is instilling confidence into Paul through this vision.

The mission will not be unsuccessful.

God will make sure of it.

He has many people in this city..., go on speaking and do not be silent.

Do you think of your own evangelism this way?

Do you believe that its God’s mission, he is drawing people to himself, he is saving, he’s working, and he aims to simply use your witness, your words, your testimony.

Truth #3 God is Sovereign Over Our Salvation

but its not just the results that would have concerned Paul…,

its also the very practical ability to continue ministering without being killed or imprisoned in Corinth.

and to that God speaks as well.

Acts 18:9–10 ESV

9 And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, 10 for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.”

The language here is so much like God’s words to his servants throughout the bible. I’ll give just one example..,

Joshua 1:9 ESV

9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Its the same message that was echoed by Jesus himself to his disciples.

Matthew 28:19–20 ESV

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

God instills confidence into Paul not just by assuring him of the results…, but also by assuring him that he will be with him along the way.

Truth #4 God is Sovereign Over Our Preservation

Listen, the mission that Paul was on was difficult and dangerous.

he’s already been beaten with rods.

he’s already been stoned.

he’s already been thrown in prison

but in these words, God once again assures Paul that God is sovereign over his preservation.

God is with him…,

and God has the power to keep him from being attacked.

Paul has nothing to fear, because nothing can happen to him apart from God’s sovereign will.

It reminds me of the missionary autobiography of John Paton.

Paton traveled to the New Hebrides islands to minister to the cannabalistic peoples who had never heard the gospel.

he often found himself under attack and in danger. He reflects In his journal about one particular time being surrounded by the native people’s each one encouraging the other to strike the first blow..,,

he writes:

My heart rose up to the Lord Jesus; I saw Him watching all the scene. My peace came back to me like a wave from God. I realized that I was immortal till my Master’s work with me was done. The assurance came to me, as if a voice out of Heaven had spoken, that not a musket would be fired to wound us, not a club prevail to strike us, not a spear leave the hand in which it was held vibrating to be thrown, not an arrow leave the bow, or a killing stone the fingers, without the permission of Jesus Christ, whose is all power in Heaven and on Earth. He rules all Nature, animate and inanimate, and restrains even the Savage of the South Seas - John Paton

God commands Paul as he commands us “do not fear”

Perhaps your hear this morning and what you need most is for your heart to rise up to the Lord Jesus… perhaps you need to renew your vision of him watching over the scene of your life and you need to realize that your anxieties and worries will not add a single moment to your life.

You are immortal until the Master’s work is done with you.

He is in control. You are not.

And the sooner you believe that with your whole heart, the sooner you will be able to rest in your working for him.

For a year and six months, Paul stays and teaches the word of God in the city of Corinth with the confidence that God is going to save his people, God is going to be present with him, and God is going to preserve him.

verses 12-17 simply tell us of God proving that in a particular situation.

Acts 18:12–17 ESV

12 But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the tribunal, 13 saying, “This man is persuading people to worship God contrary to the law.” 14 But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrongdoing or vicious crime, O Jews, I would have reason to accept your complaint. 15 But since it is a matter of questions about words and names and your own law, see to it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of these things.” 16 And he drove them from the tribunal. 17 And they all seized Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal. But Gallio paid no attention to any of this.

As in other cities, the Jews made a united attack.

They brought Paul before the authorities.

They accused Paul of breaking the Law.

But on this occasion, the proconsul took no official action,

he refused to be a judge over the situation,

and he drove the accusers out of the tribunal.

The accusers in their rage, captured the ruler of the synagogue and beat him..,

But Paul was spared, and was able to continue the work.

The point of the story is that God was keeping his promise even through the indifference of a pagan procounsul named Gallio.

the point of the story once again…, is that God is sovereign.

He is Sovereign over

Our situation

our vocation

our salvation

and our preservation.

Its his mission…, we are joyful participants of his work.

He works through us to share the best news in the world.

So what do we do with all this:

Takeaways:

#1 Work Hard

We do have a mission to do.

God has called us to participate in the mission he is accomplishing.

God commanded Paul to stay for a yer and six months teaching the word of God to Corinthians.

That was hard disciple-making work.

At the same time he was supporting himself with-tent making.

That was hard work.

We all have work to do…, and it is an amazing thing that the God of the universe aims to do his work through our work.

he uses us for his purposes, and we know that he will accomplish his purposes… so we are free to work hard…., AND

#2 Rest Easy

You are not saved by your work.

The mission of God does not depend on your work.

You cannot save anyone by the power of your work.

You get the freedom to work hard for the glory of God

AND to rest easy.

to trust him entirely

to sleep well at night.

to cast away all of your fear.

this is how the gospel works.

Ephesians 2:8–10 ESV

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

He did the work of saving us by grace through faith

And He prepared work for us to walk in.

We simply walk in and through what he has prepared and what he has accomplished.

Work hard…, rest easy.

Lets pray.