Colleagues in Christ

Acts 18:1-4

After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 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, and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade. And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.[1]

Common tasks make for strong bonds. It is not unusual that our associates, with whom we share labour in the workplace, also share most closely in our social life. Our dearest friends are often those with whom we work. Common interests make for common bonds, and since we often work closely at similar tasks or toward a similar goal, we develop friendships with our work mates.

The message today reviews those friendships, but seeks to challenge us to see ourselves as the Body of Christ. Within that Body, it is natural that we will enjoy the company of some of our fellow worshippers more than we do others. This is not so much a rejection of some, as it is a fostering of common interests even beyond our common Faith. Join me in an exploration of this fascinating topic as we observe the Apostle moving into a new region during one of his missionary journeys.

Background Studies (How we Arrived at this Point) — Let me provide the setting for the account before us. Without doubt, you will recall that this incident occurred during Paul’s second missionary journey. Having received the Macedonian call, the missionary band had crossed the Hellespont, and in a very brief ministry established a church in the city of Philippi. Jailed in Philippi, Paul and Silas next travelled to the port city of Thessalonica upon their release from prison. Again, under severe persecution from the Jews and placed under a peace bond by the city authorities, they fled to spare the nascent church trouble. Arriving in Berea, the missionaries preached the Word and again were compelled to face angry religious accusers.

Paul at last arrived in Athens. Alone, in the centre of Greek paganism, the Apostle presented the Faith and debated the Faith with the great thinkers assembled at the Areopagus. We cannot know what feelings the Apostle may have had, but many think that he was discouraged by the lack of positive response in Athens. I am not certain that I agree that results were less than positive, for though it is true that some mocked and others put off making a decision of any kind [see Acts 17:32], some believed [Acts 17:34]. My dear people, any time some believe, we have not failed. When the Word of God is declared with the result that He blesses with the salvation of souls, we have not failed.

I doubt not that Paul was discouraged, however. Imprisonment, beatings, angry mobs, threats against both himself and the other missionaries, and the pressure of concern for new believers—who wouldn’t be susceptible to discouragement? The great Apostle was but a man; and alone, the greatest of men are vulnerable to depression. If you have never wanted to quit, it is likely that you never tried.

However, commitment to his call would not permit him to quit. Travelling to the next city, Corinth, the Apostle again sought to find the means to reach out and touch lives for the cause of Christ the Lord. Consider his situation, however. He is discouraged. He is alone. His funds are exhausted.

The discouragement the Apostle experienced becomes evident upon reflection. When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified [1 Corinthians 2:1, 2]. Something of this same spirit is evident from the fifth verse of this chapter: When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ [Acts 18:5]. Here, in Corinth, there would be no great philosophical debates, but a simple declaration that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah.

Loneliness served to burden the Apostle, I should think. Silas and Timothy had remained behind in Berea to strengthen the new saints in that city. A man can withstand almost any pressure, if only one someone stands with him. Alone, any of us are liable to break and run. Moreover, the stress of need pressed upon the Apostle; his funds were exhausted. He did not have a mission board to underwrite his work. He was broke.

The paragraph which serves as our text today is explanatory, serving to introduce us to Aquila and Priscilla. “Aquila (meaning ‘eagle’) is called a Jew; the status of his wife Pricilla (the diminutive form of Prisca, ‘old or venerable woman’) is not indicated.”[2] This husband-wife duo is mentioned six times in Scripture. They are introduced here in Acts 18:2. They were in Corinth because the Emperor Claudius had expelled the Jews from Rome (a.d. 49-50).[3] This edict resulted from disturbances arising among Jews in the city of Rome who reacted with choler to the growth of the Christian Faith.

Aquila and Priscilla were Christians, expelled from Rome—and this long before Paul had carried the Gospel there. We know the date of this particular edict because Seutonius refers to it in his work, Life of Claudius.[4] This would indicate that Paul arrived in Corinth before the middle of a.d. 49. It would also indicate that Christianity was already spreading throughout the Empire soon after the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, following trade routes. Paul met fellow tradesmen, and he found fellow Christians.

Paul shared a trade with this couple—he was a tentmaker. In Corinth, Paul stayed with them, perhaps in quarters they had rented in Corinth. The text seems to indicate that they not only worked together, but that they ministered together. It is of interest to note that in his letter to the Roman Christians, Paul indicates that this couple risked their lives for him at some point [Romans 16:3, 4]. Perhaps it was during this time they shared in Corinth that they hazarded their lives for the Apostle

The business they developed together was apparently sufficiently beneficial to cause Aquila and Priscilla to move to Ephesus with Paul when he journeyed to that city [Acts 18:18, 19]. As they worked, making tents, they no doubt discussed doctrine, and it would appear from their later work that they were both excellent students and that they became excellent teachers as well [Acts 18:24-28; 1 Corinthians 16:19].[5]

After Paul left for Antioch, this couple appears to have worked alone to lay the groundwork for the Ephesian congregation [Acts 18:19-21]. During this time of foundational work in Ephesus, they performed perhaps their greatest work which was to explain to [Apollos] the way of God more accurately [Acts 18:26]. From Scripture, we know that Apollos went on to become a powerful spokesman for the cause of Christ, honouring God through working to multiply the impact of the Apostle’s message.

Aquila and Priscilla returned to Corinth, where Paul forwards specific greetings to them [1 Corinthians 16:19]. It is interesting that they again have a church in their home. The last time we see this godly couple is again in Ephesus [2 Timothy 4:19], where they no doubt provided great encouragement for the young pastor of that church, Timothy.

Four out of the six times they are named, Priscilla is named first. “This prominence has been explained as due to her superior ability and zeal, or that she had a higher social standing than Aquila as a member of an old Roman family,” according to D. E. Hiebert. I rather suspect that it is because she obtained prominence in Christian circles for her witness, however, rather than ascribing this deviation from convention to social status. Aquila is a native of Pontus, a Roman province in northern Asia Minor just north of Mysia. “Since the race of Priscilla is not mentioned,’ Hiebert adds, ‘she probably was non-Jewish, but may have become a proselyte before marrying Aquila.”[6]

Paul often spoke of working to support himself. In his first letter to the Corinthian Christians, the great Apostle spoke of the labours he and his fellow missionaries performed: we labour, working with our own hands [1 Corinthians 4:12]. Similarly, as he wrote the Thessalonian church for the first time, he spoke of his work. You remember, brothers, our labour and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God [1 Thessalonians 2:9].

Listen to Paul as he addresses the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:34, 35. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me. In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

Only here in our text are we told that the Apostle supported himself as a tentmaker. Exactly what this trade entailed is frequently discussed. Many of the early church fathers referred to him as a “leather worker.” Tents were often made of leather, so this is indeed plausible. Some interpreters, however, have suggested that Paul may not have worked in leather at all, but rather worked in cilicium, a cloth of woven goat’s hair that was often used as material for tents. Since cilicium originated in and was named for Paul’s native province of Cilicia, he may well have learned the trade there.[7]

“At the Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, across the great porch of Norton Hall, the administrative building in the seminary, you will find inscribed these words: Orthotomounta Ton Logon Tes Alethesis [ὀρθοτομοῦντα τὸν λόγον τῆς ἀληθείας] which means, ‘Rightly dividing the word of truth.’ Literally, it is a tentmaker’s speech. Orthotomounta means ‘rightly cutting,’ ‘straight cutting’ the word of truth, and Paul had to make his tent panels correctly in order to make good tents.”[8]

Among those familiar with evangelical missionary work, we often hear the term “tentmaker.” The term refers to one who goes afield to be a missionary, but who instead of being supported by people from back home, supports himself or herself by working in the economy of the local country. The missionary then does his or her missionary work “on the side.”[9]

As an aside of no small consequence, I wonder if such tentmaker ministries are not the wave of the future for the Faith. In many countries, Christians are being excluded except for those who have a profession which is desirable or underrepresented within that particular nation.

I must take a moment to speak of this labour of tentmaking ministries. I have served as a tentmaker. I sought to begin a church in a Dallas suburb, working with my hands to provide for the means to build a church. When we began the church which now stands in New Westminster, I said to those gathered that first Sunday that I was willing to work with my own hands to provide for my family. However, I cautioned them that were I to do so, they would have my attention only on a part-time basis. I know how difficult such ministry is and I have the utmost respect for that individual who labours thusly.

A number of the students whom I taught during my days at the Criswell College first served as tentmakers. They received a call from God to various western states of the United States and they went without support and without promise of a congregation to plant a church. One of the greatest tentmakers I have been privileged to know is a dear friend who cited me as his example for ministry at his ordination.

Clemente Quitevis was an electrical engineer when God called him to serve. Without support and without “cemetery” training he has during the past twenty-eight years ensured the establishment of over thirty churches in the Philippine Islands. To this day he labours with his hands, winning the lost to Christ, uniting them as a congregation and raising up pastors for the new churches. What a powerful testimony of God’s grace!

I was privileged to serve under the great pastor, W. A. Criswell. I heard his sermon entitled, “God’s Tentmaker.” This is an incident he related during that message.

“What do you think of a minister who works at a trade and who also pastors a church and preaches the gospel? I know that your attitude is no different from mine. I inordinately admire and appreciate the man who does that. I have met men all over the world who minister where the church is too small to support them, so they work with their hands and preach the gospel.

“I remember many years ago visiting in a little town in New Mexico, and on that Sunday, I attended the little Baptist church. When the pastor learned that I was there, he came to me and said: ‘I am ashamed to preach in your presence. Please, will you come and preach to my people?’

“’No,’ I said, ‘I want to worship God with you and listen to you.’

“He said, ‘But I am untaught. I am not a man of the schools. I am ashamed to preach in your presence.’

“I said: ‘My brother, you will not have a more sympathetic listener than I. You stand up there where you ought to be and preach the gospel of Christ, and I will be praying for you. I will be the most blessed of anyone listening to the message you bring.’

“So he took his place and he preached. He preached like an unlearned man would preach, but he loved God, and he blessed my heart.

“After the service was over, he explained to me: ‘You see, I am a carpenter and I was called into the ministry in later life. I had no opportunity to go to school and prepare for my work. As a carpenter, I go to little places where they do not have a church and I build it with my own hands. This church I have built with my own hands. You see that little mobile home beyond the church? That is where I live. As I win people to Christ, baptise my converts, and build the church, I turn it over to a pastor. Then I go to another place where I build another church.’

“I said: ‘Our Lord was a carpenter just like you, and He worked with His hands. You have gifts I do not possess. I could not build a church. I would not know how to frame it. But the church you have built is beautiful, and God is honoured in your devotion and dedication.’”[10]

The Friendships Forged — I have strayed from the intent with which I initiated this message, but the truths taught may well prove sufficiently worthwhile to encourage us in our own missionary endeavours and in our outreach ministries as a congregation and as individuals. What is important for the remainder of the message is to note that in the workplace, friendships are forged and strengthened through common interests.

There is an immediate bond when we first meet and discover that we share a common trade or that we share in common a profession. How much stronger is that bond when we discover that we bring to that trade or to that profession a common faith. I still recall with delight a family camp I attended in northern Minnesota some years past. I had been asked to be the speaker at that camp, and to my delight one of the participants was a young woman who was a marine biologist.

We engaged one another in conversation for some time and when the director of the camp asked what we were talking about, neither of us could explain in other than technical terms what the subject of our conversation had been. Therefore, the young woman simply said, “Science stuff.” For the remainder of the week I was known as the guy who liked to talk about “science stuff.”

Think of some of the friends whom you know best and with whom you are most likely to share your true feelings. Chances are, they are colleagues with whom you work. The only possible exception is among younger individuals who still have childhood friends living nearby. Otherwise, it seems that we forge our strongest friendships with those who share our work interests.

There is a reason for this. Small talk is the stuff of which deep bonds are formed. By that, I mean that as we communicate about the details which define our days, we are also opening our hearts to communicate with one another about the issues which bother us most deeply. Perhaps we didn’t mean to make a political statement, but we likely will feel the greatest comfort making a statement with the individuals who share the daily details of our life. Perhaps we didn’t think that we would speak of what was weighing so heavily on our heart, but our face gave us away to those with whom we work and we found that we could not hide the tensions which weighed the muscles of our face.

How much dearer is that friendship and how much stronger the bond when we share not only the common labours of our hands, but share as well the Faith of Christ the Lord! When we can pray together, encourage one another in the Faith, strengthen one another in Christ, we are each stronger for the mutual advantage.

You have heard me speak of the strongest marriages being those in which husband and wife are able to share at the deepest, most intimate level of life. Man is a tri-unity. He possesses a body, but he is a living soul. When husband and wife share their bodies and as well share emotionally and intellectually, how much stronger is that union! However, man is also a spiritual being, and when that spirit is alive in Christ the Lord and husband and wife share at the level of the Faith, they have the strongest possible marriage union.

Something like that is true in the workplace. Those who share the labours of their hands and the toils of their minds, have something in common. To a degree, they can form friendships. If they are able to enjoy similar intellectual pursuits and talk as friends, their friendship will only be deepened. However, when they can pray for one another and encourage one another in their spirits, they are virtually unconquerable. Though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken [Ecclesiastes 4:12].

The Foundations Shared — As friendships are forged, foundations are shared. Whenever in the course of work we discover that we are working with a fellow believer, there is a kinship in which we rejoice. In the days when I toiled in the laboratory, I worked with some people who were religious, but they were not Christian. Perhaps they wished to talk about the Bible, but it was more a piece of propaganda for them than the Book was a glorious revelation of God’s grace and glory. Again, I have worked with Christians who participated in worship with another communion. Though we may have differed on some issues, we were friends and we were able to pray for one another and we encouraged one another.

I remember one colleague in particular. Dr. Linn was perhaps one of the brightest enzymologists I have been privileged to know. He isolated and worked out the multiple reactions of one of the first known multifunction enzymes. Before his work, scientists had thought that an enzyme could perform only one task. Dr. Linn was Wisconsin Lutheran. I was thoroughly Baptist. We teased one another, but he prayed for me as I struggled against the opposition arrayed against me as a Christian, and I prayed for him because he was opposed for advancement because of his Christian Faith. We were dear friends because we shared a common Faith in the Risen Son of God.

Would you believe that even ministers of disparate denominations can rejoice in fellowship and in common labours? Anyone who knows me knows that I am suspicious of entangling religious alliances. I have refused to participate in the Dawson Creek Ministerial Alliance because there is no common ground for fellowship. I have often said that when they make a principled and biblical stand on Christ the Lord, I will gladly find areas of co-operation. However, so long as one “minister” denies the deity of Christ the Lord, or so long as one “minister” makes a mockery of godliness through approving the ordination of sodomites and lesbians or through dispensing christening ceremonies like some tawdry business deal, I want nothing to do with that crowd.

However, during my ministry in New Westminster, one of my beloved colleagues was a high church Anglican priest. That rector loved Christ the Lord and he longed to see Jesus honoured. I could never have been comfortable with his particular forms of worship, but I do know that he was a fellow believer. Consequently, we often joined to pray for one another and to seek the blessing of Christ the Lord on our labours.

I make no apology for the fact that I am Baptist through and through. Whenever I check into the hospital and they ask “blood type,” I tell them “Baptist positive.” Don’t slip me any Presbyterian blood. Nevertheless, I have more in common with a high church Anglican rector who believes the Bible to be the Word of God and who loves Jesus as the Son of God than I do with a Baptist minister so-called who questions whether the Bible is accurate and denies that Jesus is God.

Paul met Aquila and Priscilla and shared both in the labours at the workplace and in the labours of the Faith because the foundations were the same. You will find it beneficial for your understanding to know that in that ancient day, tradesmen did not compete with one another, but rather they would join closely together in guilds which would labour in a common section of the town. Within that Graeco-Roman world, each guild would have a patron god or goddess whom they united to worship. The guilds would sacrifice food at their regular banquets. Obviously, this cultic orientation of guilds would exclude Jews and Christians.[11] Aquila, being Jewish, would not have been able to join the tentmakers guild. The fact that he was a Christian would have only made the inability to participate that much more emphatic.

What foundations would suffice to share in the Christian Faith? What really determines whether we are sharing at the level of the spiritual? The doctrine around which all fellowship must ultimately revolve is that of Christ the Lord. In short, the Christian Faith is defined by the fact that Jesus Christ is very God in human flesh. To deny this truth is to deny the Christian Faith. Intimately and irrevocably connected to that truth is the fact that He gave His life as a sacrifice for sinful man, was buried and raised bodily on the third day. After that, He ascended into the heavens where He is seated at the right hand of the Father until He shall return. Therefore, it is by faith in Him as Lord and Saviour—faith without any works—that saves. When these truths are received and held as sacred, there the Christian Faith grows and prospers. Where these truths are honoured, there one fellowship with other believers.

This was clearly the Faith which the three colleagues propagated in the synagogues. Some time after the verses of our text, Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia. It would seem that they carried some of the financial gifts from the Philippians to which Paul alludes in Philippians 4:15. You Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only.

Their arrival freed the Apostle to devote himself to ministry full-time. Focus on the verse following our text. When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ [Acts 18:5]. “In dealing with the prophetic passages of the Old Testament which were Messianic in character, [Paul] identified the Lord Jesus as the One who fulfilled them.”[12] The message that Jesus was the Messiah, the Anointed One of God, Himself very God, was the foundation which united the heart of the three tentmakers. I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified [1 Corinthians 2:1, 2].

Do you have a friend at work who prays with you? Do you strengthen one another in the Faith? Blessed is that man who has a friend to share the labours. Blessed is the woman who has a friend who encourages her even as she toils at the tasks of the day. But what if there are no Christians to share the labours and what if there is no fellow believer who encourages you in your Faith? What then?

The Faith Propagated — Christian, what are your marching orders? The answer to the aforementioned query lies in your orders. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age [Matthew 28:19, 20].

When I first entered graduate school at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Dallas, there were but two professing Christians in the Department of Biochemistry. Neither of them was really certain about their faith, but at least they went to church occasionally. When I left, I left behind at least ten fellows, both pre-doctoral and post-doctoral, meeting for regular Bible study. At least three of the faculty were professing Christians. Among the staff members, there were a number who had become Christians. God blessed and I witnessed to His grace and He gave an increase in a most unexpected place—the laboratory.

Are you a Christian? Who knows it at your work? I am not asking you to witness instead of working. I am telling you that you are responsible to witness through your working. Your life is to be of such a nature that it leads others to challenge the hope which lies within. In your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defence to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you [1 Peter 3:15].

If we lived as the Word commands, in everything we would make every effort to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour [cf. Titus 2:10]. I recall the final conversation I had with the Chairman of the Graduate Studies in my final days of doctoral work. I had won recognition from Sigma Xi Society for my research for a second consecutive year. The honour consisted of a cash prize to be used for the purchase of books and a beer party in my honour. I accepted half of the honour. I politely declined to be present at the beer party, saying that I would take my wife out for barbecue that evening.

My position created some problems, but I stood my ground. The fact that I was a Christian had been an irritant for some members of the faculty throughout the previous five years, and my refusal to participate with them in their beer fests had only served to rub salt into the wounds. As Doctor Petersen stalked away, he marched down that long hallway, but just as he reached the far end he spun on his heel and strode purposefully toward me. Stopping close to me and leaning forward so his glare was directly into my eyes, he said, “I don’t believe one thing you believe. But, I just want you to know that if I ever need anybody to pray for me, I know that you will do so.”

I would rather have that man’s respect for my consistent witness than anything else he could give me. Some of his colleagues had become rather outspoken concerning their Faith. Some of the other students had become outspoken concerning their Faith. I had made a difference, limited though it may have been. In a very real sense, I had been salt and I had been light in the midst of a darkened and decaying world. That is your call. Whatever your labours require, so live that someone asks for the reason of our hope. Whatever your work, be a Christian and touch another’s life.

Among us are perhaps some who have yet to come to faith in the Son of God. As those who are born from above and into the Family of God, we invite you to confess with us this Faith. Believe this glorious Good News of life in Jesus Christ and walk with us in the way of life. We invite you to become a Christian.

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” [Romans 10:9-13].

You, who have become believers in this Good News, come, stand with us. Come, follow Christ in baptism as He commands and unite with this congregation. You, who have membership elsewhere, we would gladly receive you into the fellowship of this congregation. Come, stand with us and help us make a difference in this community. We cannot change the world until we change the place where we stand, until we change the place where we live, until we change the place where we work. Let’s make Christ Lord of our labours. Amen.

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[1] Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Ó 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

[2] Everett F. Harrison, Acts: The Expanding Church (Moody Press, Chicago, IL 1975) 276

[3] Mal Couch (ed.), A Bible Handbook to the Acts of the Apostles (Kregel, Grand Rapids, MI 1999) 345

[4] cf. John MacArthur, Jr., Acts 13-28, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Moody, Chicago, IL 1996) 147

[5] Couch, op. cit., 346

[6] D. E. Hiebert, Aquila and Priscilla (art.) in Merrill C. Tenney (ed.), Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, Vol. One, A-C (Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI 1975, 1976) 230, 232

[7] John B. Polhill, Acts, New American Commentary, Vol. 26 (Broadman, Nashville, TN 1992) 383

[8] W. A. Criswell, Acts: An Exposition, Volume II, Chapters 9-18 (Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI 1979) 310

[9] James Montgomery Boice, Acts: An Expositional Commentary (Baker, Grand Rapids, MI 1997) 305

[10] Criswell, op. cit. 310-1

[11] Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (InterVarsity, Downers Grove, IL 1993) 375

[12] Harrison, op. cit. 276