Encouragement Strengthens Resolve

I have said many times that being a Christian is simple but not easy. Simple truth, believe or trust Jesus Christ is the Son of God who is God who died on the cross to pay the penalty of sin for you and me. A penalty we can not pay on our own, there is nothing we can do to earn salvation or a right standing before God but Jesus, the perfect human being, became our substitute and took our place on the cross. He died so we don’t have to, and in His resurrection we can now have new life as well. Simple. The problem occurs when it comes to living the Christian life. Its not easy. Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection and ascension means He has claimed victory over sin but it doesn’t mean sin is gone out of the world yet. So we still deal with sin from within and we deal with sinning people who sin against us. The Christian life is simple but not easy.

Because the Christian life is not easy we find more times then we would like that we go through difficult circumstances. We go through financial hard times, we go through illness family illnesses, we find people are against us as though there is always some kind of opposition out there trying to keep us from sharing the gospel or even worse trying to get us to turn on God and rebel by sinning against Him. What usually winds up happening when our circumstances some difficult is we jump in and try to handle it on our own. Now if I were to ask you this morning how are you doing, you would probably tell me things are ok or things are fine. Now if we were to be honest with one another, we would say, you know what things are ok, but it feels like everything is weighing down on me. I feel like my finacial situation is hard, like I am swimming upstream and get pulled back by the current, my wife is sick or my husband is sick and working hard to provide or my child is always sick. I just feeling like giving up. Don’t we feel that way at times when our circumstances get tough. Well this morning we are going to take a look at a man who we have seen is a spiritual giant, and we are going to see that even spiritual giants need some deep encouragement and support to keep on going. That is why this sermon is titled, Encouragement Strengthens Resolve. And for those here this morning who are going through some kind of situation that is testing them, I want to tell you right off the bat, Jesus has got it. Be encouraged even in your situation because Jesus has got it.

Being Encouraged in any Circumstance through God’s Support, Word and Protection

We find this in Acts 18:1-17, Acts 18:1-17: Luke writes this;

Acts 18:1–17 NASB95

1 After these things he left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, having recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. He came to them, 3 and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and they were working, for by trade they were tent-makers. 4 And he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks. 5 But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely to the word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. 6 But when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” 7 Then he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God, whose house was next to the synagogue. 8 Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his household, and many of the Corinthians when they heard were believing and being baptized. 9 And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, “Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent; 10 for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city.” 11 And he settled there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. 12 But while Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him before the judgment seat, 13 saying, “This man persuades men 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 wrong or of vicious crime, O Jews, it would be reasonable for me to put up with you; 15 but if there are questions about words and names and your own law, look after it yourselves; I am unwilling to be a judge of these matters.” 16 And he drove them away from the judgment seat. 17 And they all took hold of Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and began beating him in front of the judgment seat. But Gallio was not concerned about any of these things.

Paul was in Athens waiting on Silas and Timothy and while he was waiting on Silas and Timothy remember the idolatry of the city and the people provoked Paul’s spirit and he was moved to proclaim the gospel truth to Jews in the Synagogue and also to the Greeks in the market place. His debating with them and their philosophy brought Paul to stand before their counsel in the Areopagus and revealed to them who God is. At the end of Paul’s discourse some rejected this truth, some were still curious and others believed. Paul was not driven out of the city but left willingly and now we find Paul is in a new city, Corinth.

Corinth was a port city, it had a large population with the lowest estimate at 200,000. The city was filled with diverse sets of people, from retired soldiers, to slaves, to tradesmen, businessmen there are people here not only from all walks of life but also all of the known world. It was not only a hub for business but also a hub of cultural differences for all kinds of worship. This is the city were Paul now enters and it is not a city that is easy to minister in. Paul seems to enter the city alone, but Paul is not alone for long.

Verse 2, “And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, having recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. He came to them.” Here we find that by God’s providence and power Paul can find encouragement through God’s Support.

Encouraged through God’s Support

Even though Paul enters this tough city alone, he is not alone for long. He comes across this Jewish couple. How Paul came across this couple is not spelled out, whether or not they were believers before Paul came across them we do not know. What we do know is this. Aquila is a native of Pontus which is a region in nothern turkey and he and his wife were living in Italy. We know from Paul’s letter to the Roman church the gospel message had spread as far as Rome without Paul having to go there. So there were Christians in Rome. There was also a high population of Jews and there are recordings of the Jews rioting against the Christians. It seemed to Claudius to be religious infighting and we will see that when the Jews bring Paul before the Roman counsel here in Corinth, so to stop this from continuing in Rome Claudius forces the Jews out. So we find here a couple that was forced out and they might well be Christians when Paul meets up with them. Regardless this couples seems to be a support system to Paul.

Verse 3, adds to this support system, “and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and they were working, for by trade they were tentmakers.” God Provides Paul with support from people who are like minded. Even though the text doesn’t tell us, it is safe to say they are Christians. Paul comes to them and they welcome him into their home and he also goes to the synagogue and preaches the gospel. If this couple were not believers they wouldn’t have associated with Paul in this way.

God also provides Paul with support in giving him a trade. Paul was not just a man who knew the Scriptures and was being trained to be a pharisee as he grew up but he also had to know a trade and the trade he learned was tent making. God had made sure Paul had a means of support in case he needed it. Here he needed it. There is nothing wrong with a pastor knowing a trade. I am very grateful to know how to lay block and being around construction for a many years. It helped me to be know how to do things. A trade in and of itself is helpful to have. This was a means of support for Paul.

This trade also helped support Paul monetarily. Paul didn’t just work just to work, he worked so he could survive. Is this the ideal way to provide no. Paul had to do so because he needed to be supported and at this point he had no funds to support him so he worked. Is it easy to work and be a minister of the gospel. No, but it is necessary at times. Did this stop Paul from giving the gospel. No, verse 4, And he was reasoning every Sabbath and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.” It was necessary to work and it was necessary to preach the gospel. Paul did both. Did this hinder him? Yes, it did.

It wasn’t until Silas and Timothy came in verse 5 that Paul was freed up from this task and able to devote his time to the gospel.

Paul worked in Corinth and he makes it very clear it was for their sake and for the sake of the gospel. Look at what he tells the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 9:11-18

1 Corinthians 9:11–18 NASB95

11 If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? 12 If others share the right over you, do we not more? Nevertheless, we did not use this right, but we endure all things so that we will cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ. 13 Do you not know that those who perform sacred services eat the food of the temple, and those who attend regularly to the altar have their share from the altar? 14 So also the Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel. 15 But I have used none of these things. And I am not writing these things so that it will be done so in my case; for it would be better for me to die than have any man make my boast an empty one. 16 For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. 17 For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me. 18 What then is my reward? That, when I preach the gospel, I may offer the gospel without charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.

Notice Paul didn’t want the Corinthians to see him as someone who peddled a false claim. He worked so the gospel would be exalted. Paul later in his second letter to the Corinthians when he is defending his apostleship against false teachers who are trying discredit Paul. Paul says this to the Corinthians;

2 Corinthians 11:3–10 NASB95

3 But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. 4 For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully. 5 For I consider myself not in the least inferior to the most eminent apostles. 6 But even if I am unskilled in speech, yet I am not so in knowledge; in fact, in every way we have made this evident to you in all things. 7 Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached the gospel of God to you without charge? 8 I robbed other churches by taking wages from them to serve you; 9 and when I was present with you and was in need, I was not a burden to anyone; for when the brethren came from Macedonia they fully supplied my need, and in everything I kept myself from being a burden to you, and will continue to do so. 10 As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be stopped in the regions of Achaia.

Philippians 4:15–20 NASB95

15 You yourselves also know, Philippians, that at the first preaching of the gospel, after I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you alone; 16 for even in Thessalonica you sent a gift more than once for my needs. 17 Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account. 18 But I have received everything in full and have an abundance; I am amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God. 19 And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. 20 Now to our God and Father be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

God is the one who supports Paul financially and he does the same for us. God supplies all our needs and we can be encouraged by this fact.

Paul is now free to devote all his time to the gospel and as he does we see opposition arise.

Verse 6.

Nehemiah 5:13 NASB95

13 I also shook out the front of my garment and said, “Thus may God shake out every man from his house and from his possessions who does not fulfill this promise; even thus may he be shaken out and emptied.” And all the assembly said, “Amen!” And they praised the Lord. Then the people did according to this promise.

God also encourages Paul through conversions

Encouragement through God’s Conversions

Ezekiel 36:26–27 NASB95

26 “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.

Ephesians 2:11–18 NASB95

11 Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” which is performed in the flesh by human hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, 15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, 16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. 17 And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near; 18 for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.