The Butcher, The Baker, The Candlestick Maker: Ministry for the Moment

Acts 18:1–11 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.

This is supposed to be a lecture, but...

I was born at Caledonian Hospital in Brooklyn. That space is now a luxury apartment building across the street from Prospect Park. But it was walking distance from the house I grew up in; a house I would regularly visit until 2018 when my mother sold it and moved to DC to live with us. I’ve had NYC connection for 51 years now. I went to Midwood HS at Brooklyn College, and studied electrical engineering (and black studies) at CCNY in Harlem. My wife, Kim, also went to Midwood HS and, like me, is a CUNY product. She studied accounting at Baruch.

We left NY for the DC Metro area in 1995 for job opportunities. Kim got a job offer from UNCF as a budget manager for government grants. I started work as a systems engineer with Motorola.

Here’s why I’m giving you all this background. When we left NY I had no designs on ministry. I had no designs on following Jesus either. God, in his grace, grabbed hold of Kim and I at New Bethel Baptist Church in Washington, DC later that year. We made a profession of faith and began following hard after Jesus. The pastorate was the furthest thing from my mind. My personal goal and desire was to become a Corporate VP at Motorola. Climbing the corporate ladder as a faithful Christian in the workplace was my agenda.

But how many of you know that God’s got an agenda too? And his agenda isn’t just for the world in general, he’s got one for us in particular. And his agenda always trumps our agenda.

So, a few years into my engineering career I’m beginning to think about going back to school for an MBA so to prepare myself for management opportunities. And as I am praying about this, the Lord does a little switch-a-roo on me. And all of a sudden, I’m thinking about seminary. In fact, the thought of pursuing an MBA became distasteful to me. And I was scared! What does this mean for my dreams? I remember praying to the Lord and saying, “Lord, what is this about? I know you’re not calling me to be a pastor!”

That’s because pastor was nowhere on my list of dreams.

As God would have it, RTS had recently started a campus in the DC area. I’d become Reformed in my theology, so RTS was on my radar. When I visited a class and had conversations with folks in the RTS orbit at least a couple of them suggested the idea of selling my house and living off of the equity so that I could attend seminary full-time and simultaneously support my family. My immediate thought when they said that was, “You must be outchyo mind!”...

Kim had at that point come home to be a full-time mom. We had three young children, and I had a good job. There was no way I was making that radical of a shift. I didn’t have personal model for it in regard to ministry, but this seminary thing was going to have to be done on a part-time basis. I know there are far fewer credits in an MBA program than there are in any Masters program at RTS, but I was going to do the MBA while working full-time. That was the same mindset I was taking into my seminary studies.

Now, look, I’m not trying to make my experience the norm, or a prescription that folk have got to follow. However, I titled this lecture, The Butcher, The Baker, The Candlestick Maker for a reason. It’s not just a line from a nursery rhyme. The phrase denotes people of various trades, businesses, or professions considered collectively. It’s my expectation that in certain urban contexts in particular, like NYC or DC, you’re going to find the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker, and e’erbody else, coming to seminary. And the expectation is that many, if not most, will need to be bi-vocational seminary students and become bi-vocational in ministry. And I’m so glad that God doesn’t leave us without a witness.

I want to hone in on two things in the passage we read. Verse 3 Luke says that when Paul got to Corinth he stayed and worked with Aquila and Priscilla because they shared the same occupation. They were tentmakers by trade. Then, in v. 11 Luke says that Paul stayed in Corinth a year and a half, teaching the word of God among them.

I love how much Paul talks about the bi-vocational nature of his ministry.

Acts 20:34 ESV

34 You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me.

1 Corinthians 4:11–12 ESV

11 To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, 12 and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure;

1 Corinthians 9:14–15 ESV

14 In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel. 15 But I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing these things to secure any such provision. For I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of my ground for boasting.

2 Corinthians 11:7 ESV

7 Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached God’s gospel to you free of charge?

2CO11.

1 Thessalonians 2:9 ESV

9 For you remember, brothers, our labor 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.

I told you this is a “precture”… I’m going to continue to weave in some personal thoughts and experiences as I talk about these two points: The Place and The Push.

2 Thessalonians 3:7–8 ESV

7 For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, 8 nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you.

I told you this is a “precture”… I’m going to continue to weave in some personal thoughts and experiences as I talk about these two points: The Place and The Push.

Here’s the context for the passage. We’re in Paul’s second missionary journey. He’s been traveling with Silas and Timothy. When they were in the city of Troas, which was in the district of Asia, Paul had a vision of a man from Macedonia urging him to “come over to Macedonia and help us” (). So they sailed over to the district of Macedonia. And at this point Luke himself is with them. Luke said, “we sought to go on to Macedonia concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.” They preached this gospel in the Macedonian cities of Philippi, Thessolonica, and Berea; encountering trouble in every city. Silas and Timothy stayed in Berea, and the church sent Paul away out of Macedonia. They brought him, Luke said in 17:15, as far as Athens. Athens is in the district of Achaia. There he debates the Stoic and Epicurean philosophers in the midst of the Areopagus. Athens wasn’t the major city it had been in the past, but it was still the cultural capital of that district, and one of the cultural capitals of the empire.

We’re still in what’s known as Paul’s second missionary journey. He’s been traveling with Silas and Timothy. When they were in the city of Troas, was in the district of Asia, Paul had a vision of a man from Macedonia urging him to “come over to Macedonia and help us” (). So they sailed over to the district of Macedonia. And at this point Luke himself is with them. Luke said, “we sought to go on to Macedonia concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.” We saw them preach this gospel in the Macedonian cities of Philippi, Thessolonica, and Berea; encountering trouble in every city. Silas and Timothy stayed in Berea, and the church sent Paul away out of Macedonia. They brought him, Luke said in 17:15, as far as Athens. Athens is in the district of Achaia. That’s where we last saw him. In the city of Athens debating with the Stoic and Epicurean philosophers in the midst of the Areopagus. Athens wasn’t the major city it had been in the past, but it was still the cultural capital of that district, and one of the cultural capitals of the empire.

Now we find Paul moving on to another place. After his time in Athens, Luke says in 18:1 he left and went to Corinth. He’s silent about why Paul moved on to Corinth, but what we do know is that Corinth was the capital of Achaia. It was the gateway city of the Roman empire, serving as the trade bridge between Europe, Asia and North Africa. So you had people from all over the world in Corinth. Paul had left the cultural capital of the world in Athens and come to the business capital. Corinth as a city was economically prosperous, religiously pluralistic, and socially promiscuous. It was full of money and full of moral and spiritual confusion. And this is where Paul decided to go next.

A few years after leaving NY for the DC area, I remember coming back to the city for a holiday. The thought that ran through my mind as I took the train from Brooklyn into the City, a thought popped into my head. “This is just like Corinth.” What I mean is that coming back to the City with the eyes of faith made it look different to me. There was an excitement about NYC that wasn’t there for me when I left.

Let me point out two things about Paul coming to this place. First, Corinth was a messy place. But God wanted Corinth too. And what it often looks like when the gospel comes into a messy place is that you get a messy church. Read 1 & 2 Corinthians to get an idea of how the social and cultural ills of the city were still a struggle for the church that was formed there. Don’t be surprised when the mess of the community pops up in the life of the church. The difference is that where Jesus is present is also the place where you find the tools to deal with the mess.

Here’s a benefit to bi-vocational seminary study. It’s messy in a particular way. You don’t get to spend your ministry formative years in the bubble of Christian seminary without having to mix it up on your job with folks who don’t know Jesus. You don’t get to live in the illusion of isolation. Like I said, I an’t mad at full-time seminary students. But there’s a formative difference when you’ve got to mix it up in the mess of real life, learning in real time how to apply what you’re learning in these good classes to the daily grind.

The second thing is, look at what Paul did in that place. When he got to Corinth he found this couple, Aquila and Priscilla, who had come there from Italy because the Emperor Claudius had commanded the Jews to leave Rome. It’s likely that these two were already Christians when they came to Corinth. But Paul ends up either as a business partner or an employee of Aquila. Paul is a tent-maker, or a maker of stage properties. Here’s the deal. There’s some ambiguity to what the Greek word translated as “tentmaker” actually refers to. It only appears in Scripture right here in our passage. Its usage outside of the Bible is scant. In those couple of instances it refers to someone who made or moved stage properties for the theatre. As a compound word, it literally translates as “tentmaker.” I actually love the ambiguity in the word. It’s good that bi-vocational ministry work has come to be called “tentmaking.” The butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker are all eligible bi-vocational ministry pursuits.

See, whether Paul’s vocation is making stage properties for the theater, or working with cloth made from goat hair to make curtains, rugs, tents that were supplied to the military and other industries, what are we to make of an apostle doing this kind of work? He’s an apostle for goodness sake! He got his apostolic calling directly from Jesus! What’s he doing making stuff for the secular theater or to sell to the military? What’s he doing making stuff to sell to other business? Doesn’t he know how much corruption there is in business in this city? Shouldn’t he just concern himself with more “spiritual” stuff?

First, the brother has to put food on his table. He’s got to eat so he needs to work. Secondly we need to be clear on the fact that God calls everybody to honest work. Just like God calls us to put our faith in Jesus, he calls us to do good work in Jesus’ name. And I don't think that Paul doing good work meant making sure that he put a fish symbol or a Scripture verse on every tent or curtain he made, to make sure people heard the gospel. No, doing good work meant making good curtains and tents. It’s the same for us. Doing good work as a Christian means doing your work well; whatever that work is.

There is actually a witness to the church and the world when we’re engaged in bi-vocational ministry. Paul told the Corinthians that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living from the gospel. But he also understood the time. There were lots of unscrupulous itinerant lecturers and philosophers who made their living on the circuit. So he also tells the Corinthians, “we are not peddlers of the word of God” (). I don’t want my gospel message to be invalidated by my being associated with these traveling philosophers who are shukin’ and jiving to get a buck.

I love CrossFit. I’m an addict. These days I coach part-time at my CF gym in DC. I’m definitely the only coach at my gym who’s also a pastor. When the email went out that I was hired as a new coach it included the fact that I’m also a pastor. The next day a few of us were joking around before class. One lady mentioned how much she liked one of the coaches even though he hit her in the face with a football when she first joined the gym. I said, “Oh, all I have to do is hit you with a med-ball or something to get you to like me?” Then she got serious and said, “Oh no, I’m not going to like you. You and I probably shouldn’t have a conversation about anything serious. We think too differently about things.” Now, mind you, we hadn’t had a conversation about anything during my time at the gym. She’s reacting to one line in the email. Coach Irwyn is a pastor. But right after saying that we shouldn’t have any conversations, she says to me, “But you’re not an a-hole. So maybe there’s hope.”

The bi-vocational or multi-vocational ministry life can put us in places and contact with folks who have little other contact with folk who are trying to follow Jesus.

So, in this place, Paul would reason in the synagogue every Sabbath, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks that Jesus is the Messiah and they need to repent of their sins and put their trust in him. Then, during the week he’s making tents.

The People

But, here’s what happens. There’s actually a shift in the passage that helps us understand that we can’t make bi-vocational ministry a mandate. We’ve got to be able to discern the ministry moment, the ministry opportunity, and the provision for it.

Here’s what happens. Silas and Timothy come from Macedonia and meet up with Paul in Corinth. When Paul got to Athens he had sent word back to Berea for them to come to him (17:15). As a result of their coming, Paul was now occupied with the word. What this means is that he was no longer only reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath. He was now fully engaged in the ministry of the word throughout the week. He was able to do this because when Silas and Timothy came, the brought with them a financial gift from the Macedonian churches. We know this because Paul reminds the Corinthians of this in ,

Silas and Timothy come from Macedonia and meet up with Paul in Corinth. When Paul got to Athens he had sent word back to Berea for them to come to him (17:15). As a result of their coming, Paul was now occupied with the word. What this means is that he was no longer only reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath. He was now fully engaged in the ministry of the word throughout the week. He was able to do this because when Silas and Timothy came, the brought with them a financial gift from the Macedonian churches. We know this because Paul reminds the Corinthians of this in ,

2 Corinthians 11:9 ESV

9 And when I was with you and was in need, I did not burden anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my need. So I refrained and will refrain from burdening you in any way.

Here’s what happens. Silas and Timothy come from Macedonia and meet up with Paul in Corinth. When Paul got to Athens he had sent word back to Berea for them to come to him (17:15). As a result of their coming, Paul was now occupied with the word. What this means is that he was no longer only reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath. He was now fully engaged in the ministry of the word throughout the week. He was able to do this because when Silas and Timothy came, the brought with them a financial gift from the Macedonian churches. We know this because Paul reminds the Corinthians of this in ,

Interestingly enough, as he is freed up financially to focus exclusively on ministry, the heat is turned up and opposition increases. When Paul is reviled in the synagogue, he says basically, “Later for y’all. I’m going to the Gentiles.” He goes to the house of a Gentile named Titius Justus. This guy lives right next door to the synagogue. The point of Luke telling us this isn’t that Paul needed a place to stay, he could’ve continued staying with Aquila and Priscilla. The point is that he’s now preaching the gospel right next door to the synagogue. He’s fully occupied with preaching the message of Jesus Christ throughout the week, and people don’t have to go to the synagogue to hear it. They can just come to Justus’ house. But then, this unexpected thing happens. Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, hears the gospel, and believes in the Lord Jesus with his whole household. Now, Luke says in v. 8, many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized. The implication here is that the many Corinthians who heard and believed are symbolized by Justus and Crispus, you have the gospel doing its work again. Jews and Gentiles turning to Jesus Christ. I know that we’re talking about bi-vocational ministry, but this is the push that we’re after. Jesus breaking down the dividing walls of separation to create one new humanity in his name and under his lordship.

As he is freed up financially to focus exclusively on ministry, there is this explosion of converts in Corinth, symbolized by these two men. When Paul is reviled in the synagogue, he says basically, “Later for y’all. I’m going to the Gentiles.” He goes to the house of a Gentile named Titius Justus. This guy lives right next door to the synagogue. The point of Luke telling us this isn’t that Paul needed a place to stay, he could’ve continued staying with Aquila and Priscilla. The point is that he’s now preaching the gospel right next door to the synagogue. He’s fully occupied with preaching the message of Jesus Christ throughout the week, and people don’t have to go to the synagogue to hear it. They can just come to Justus’ house. But then, this unexpected thing happens. Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, hears the gospel, and believes in the Lord Jesus with his whole household. Now, Luke says in v. 8, many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized. The implication here is that the many Corinthians who heard and believed are symbolized by Justus and Crispus, you have the gospel doing its work again. Jews and Gentiles turning to Jesus Christ. It’s likely the case that there were more Gentiles turning to Jesus than Jews. But we have seen this over and over and over again in Acts. Jesus breaking down the dividing walls of separation to create one new humanity in his name and under his lordship.

This is an inescapable aspect of Jesus’ mission and his message. Jewish Crispus is now in fellowship with Gentile Justus. As a worshipper of God, Justus would’ve been a regular attender at the synagogue next door, but he wasn’t fully in. He wasn’t on equal footing with Crispus. But now, in Christ Jesus, there is no distinction with God. These men are now brothers in the Lord. God is with us for this mission. There is a call here to enjoy what God is doing. To enjoy God and his work. It is what God manifested himself in the flesh for. You see, Justus and Crispus are not in control, Jesus is. He has laid claim to both of their lives and put them together. They could no longer live in the Jew and Gentile fear of one another and separation from one another.

I love this quote from Richard Rohr about control. He said, “In my experience, most people would sooner be afraid and in control than in love and out of control.” In the context, I take him to mean in love with God. Most would rather be afraid and in control, than in love with God and out of control.

God being with us inseparable from him being with us and in control. It’s Jesus’ show, and this reality is the push that Paul needed in order to keep going in Corinth. Here it is folks. Bi-vocational, multi-vocational, full-time ministry, Jesus is calling the shots in all of it. And by what means is he going to provide what we need for us to be about his business? I don’t know, but don’t get this picture in your mind that the gold standard for ministry is a full-time salary from the church. Don’t get the idea in your mind that’s somehow less stressful or more effective or more desirable. The question is, what is good and right for your ministry context? In the ministry context of we see Paul experiencing both.

When I graduated in 2006, and excitedly entered “full-time” ministry it took me about two months to realize that my context and pastoral pursuit necessitated my being bi-vocational. In fact, for the first five years of my pastoring and church planting, most of my salary came from my non-church contractor work. Year 6, I gave up my contractor work and all my income came from the church. So, I’ve experienced both, and the bottom line in each case wasn’t where’s the money coming from…The bottom line was what has God called me to at this time in this place, and what does wisdom require?

We find out in v. 11 that Paul stayed in Corinth teaching the word of God for a year and a half. And there’s only one reason that he stayed there that long. It’s because Jesus said to him one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, 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.”

We think about Paul as a bold and courageous apostle, not afraid to open his mouth for Jesus. But Paul tells a different story about himself. When he wrote back to the church in Corinth that had been formed over those 18 months, he said in ,

1 Corinthians 2:3–5 ESV

3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

If Paul seemed to be bold and courageous while he was there, it was for one reason and one reason alone. Jesus told him, don’t be afraid. Keep on speaking because I am with you. The confidence you need to have Paul is that I am with you and I am in control. I have many in this city who are my people. They don’t know they’re my people just yet. But they are, and I’m going to use you to bring my message to them, and they will come to know that I’m calling them to myself. I’m at work here, Paul, and what you need to do is trust me and go on with the work that I’ve given you.

Visions don’t pop up in the Bible just because God feels like showing up. There’s a reason God shows up to Moses in the vision of the burning bush in . He’s going to send Moses back to Egypt. Moses doesn’t want to go. God has to tell him in , “I will be with you.” There’s a reason why God shows up to Joshua in the very first chapter of that book, before Joshua leads Israel into the promised land. He tells Joshua in v. 5, “Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave or forsake you.” There’s a reason God shows up to Jeremiah when he calls him to be a prophet in . It is to assure him in v. 8, “Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the Lord.”

Paul comes to Corinth in weakness and fear and much trembling, and so he needs to hear that same refrain, “Do not be afraid, for I am with you.” That is our refrain, God is with us in Jesus Christ. That is the refrain you need to hear and believe tonight. Jesus said to his disciples, “I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you.” This promise of Jesus’ presence is what pushed Paul forward through his fear and trembling in Corinth.

Can I leave you with this tonight family? Ministry is fraught with uncertainty. Indeed if it wasn’t, we wouldn’t need faith. But that’s your word, “Do not be afraid, for I am with you.”

So the But he’s been pushed forward by the promise of Jesus’ presence. That’s the same push that every one of us needs.

The Butcher, The Baker, The Candlestick Maker: Ministry for the Moment

Introduction

The Place

The Push