The Cure and the Care

Sermon Text: Acts 18:1-23

Intro

Hook: What’s the worst disease you have ever had? I have had hand foot and mouth disease. A kid accidentally gets poo in their mouth. What is the worst disease of the all? What is the second worst? Cancer and its cure. Let’s imagine that one day the cure for cancer drops into your lap. The next day, you find out that you have cancer. So you take the cure, and you make a full recovery. Then you remember you have a classmate has cancer as well. But they’re kind of awkward and they have said some pretty hurtful things in the past towards you. A week goes by as you consider it and they get worse and worse in their condition. Would you give them the cure? All of a sudden, this cancer cure has changed. What was at first a gift to you has now become a responsibility for those others in need.

Context: Paul, Silas, and Timothy have been spreading the word. The word that the Christ is Jesus. Paul occupied with the word, just came from Athens. The reason he gets out of bed, its the thing that gets him going, for athletes its a good swim or run or weightlifting session, for mathematicians its a puzzle, for chess players its a good game of chess; for Paul its the sharing of the word… Now he goes to Corinth, then Syria, and then Ephesus. Corinth was a popular place.

Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible Corinth > Cc

In the apostolic period the city was a bustling commercial and industrial center boasting a population of almost 700,000

Thesis: The world has a cancer, we have a cure, and we must care enough to share the cure with the world.

Read and Pray. (make some clarifications as we read… vow - thankful or prayerful, claudius’ command)

Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible Claudius (10 BC–AD 54)

The Roman biographer and historian Suetonius wrote that “because the Jews of Rome were indulging in constant riots at the instigation of Chrestus he [Claudius] expelled them from the city.” The writer could easily have been uncertain of the spelling, because Chrestus, a common slave name, was pronounced virtually the same as Christus. It appears that Suetonius sought to convey to his readers that Chrestus was the founder of a movement (Christianity?).

Body

MP#1: A Worldwide Cancer

Assertion

There is a worldwide cancer called sin. It is a spiritual disease that leads to spiritual and physical evils. It is all over the world. From birth, people have the disease throughout their whole bodies. In our text, we see that this spiritual cancer is present in those who oppose Paul.

Evidence

Acts 18:5–6 “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.”

Acts 18:12 “12 But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the tribunal,”

Acts 18:17 “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.”

Commentary (scripture, exposition, story)

Their sickness had spread so deep that they rejected the cure for their sickness. They were so sick that they were blind to the cure. In the Lord of the Rings… there’s a scene with a man who is so sick that he cannot see. Only until Gandalf comes and breaks the spell does he begin to see rightly. Such is the same with us. We are spellbound and under the curse of sin until God comes and speaks a word to our souls that frees us from the curse.

They attacked Paul, bringing him before a judge.

After attacking Paul, they failed. They wanted their judge to condemn him, but the judge said he would not get involved. After this, they grabbed the ruler of the synagogue and beat him in front of the tribunal. They are madmen. They are sick. They have a deep cancer that causes their blindness and folly. They’re lost, but worse still, they are without hope because they rejected the word that Paul brought.

MP#2: A Worldwide Cure

Assertion

God has given a cure to the world’s cancer.

Evidence

Acts 18:5 “5 When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus.”

Acts 18:8–10 “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.’”

Commentary *use anecdotes!*

As we stated earlier, Paul was occupied with the word. It was the engine that caused him to persist in sharing the cure. What is the cure? That the Christ was Jesus. We covered this last week, so somebody tell me what this means… What does it mean that Jesus is the Christ?

“I have many in this city who are my people,” paired together with, “believed in the Lord” shows that God intended to give a cure to the people. Before Paul got to Corinth, God already had many in that city who were his people. And because God loved them so much, he gave them the cure for their sin-sick souls. And so God sent Paul to the city of Corinth to share the Gospel with them, for many in that city were God’s people.

They belong to God. If someone belongs to God, then in the end, they will be saved. If they are called, they are coming. This does not mean that we don’t need to share the Gospel, this just means that there is nothing we can do or fail to do to change whether or not God saves someone. After all, God still sent Paul, a human person, to accomplish the spreading of His Gospel. And God still does the same today.

MP#3: A Worldwide Care

Assertion

Obviously, God cared for mankind enough to provide a cure. But what happens when people receive the cure? Do they care for the ones around them that are still sick? Or going back to what we first talked about, will you share the cure for cancer to that awkward classmate? The cure leads people to care for others. They care enough to share with those in need.

Evidence

Acts 18:4 “4 And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.”

Acts 18:9–11 “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.”

Acts 18:19 “19 And they came to Ephesus, and he left them there, but he himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews.”

Acts 18:22–23 “22 When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church, and then went down to Antioch. 23 After spending some time there, he departed and went from one place to the next through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.”

Commentary

Paul couldn’t share with everyone in the world because he is a limited man. And there are also some people who are completely disinterested and his time was better spent going to the Gentiles. But he tried to persuade people to Christ, which takes time. He spent a year and six months at least in one place. During that time, he is regularly sharing with those around him, because he cares for them.

What comfort from Christ that Paul must have felt! The Lord himself visited him in a vision and spoke to him. Don’t be afraid, he says, but keep going. I am with you. This demonstrates that Paul has indeed received the cure, which is that Jesus loves Paul, he has save him, and is with him. And with the knowledge that there are people in his life that God will save, Paul stays there longer to keep spreading the word of Jesus. Because His God cared for him, he cared for those around him.

His care was extensive. He strengthened the churches where he first evangelized. Not only would he preach until someone was converted, but he went back to disciple them. This is the kind of care that every Christian should hope to have.

Last thing to mention about Paul’s care for the lost is this: Once the cure is given, it is your audience’s responsibility to act. What will they do with the cure? Will they receive it? It is not your responsibility to force them to take it. You cannot make someone believe in Christ. You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make them drink. Give the story of a child who refuses help… like for a bad cut. Or for a car accident.

Conclusion

Restate

Review

Reflect / Apply

We are all spiritually diseased from birth. Have you been cured?

If you have been cured, do you care to share the cure? It’s healing powers give eternal life.