Encouragement in Adversity, Part 2
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Those who wait for God discover that he is a God of encouragement! (Isa 40:30-31)
30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted;
31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
When the Apostle Paul came to Corinth he was in great need of God’s comfort.
summary of Paul’s 2nd missionary journey
began with the breaking of his partnership with Barnabas over John Mark
while Barnabas and Mark travelled west by ship to Cyprus Paul and Silas travelled north by land to what is now western Turkey to strengthen the churches established on his first missionary journey
added Timothy to the team at Lystra
as they continued north and west the HS kept them from preaching the Gospel
came to Troas where the Lord directed them to go to Macedonia
at Philippi, Paul and Silas were beaten and forced to leave
at Thessalonica they were chased out by angry Jews
at Berea they were chased out again
Paul travelled to Athens where there was little response to the Gospel
arrived in the wicked city of Corinth as was down hearted and discouraged
Paul says of his discouragement,
3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling,
writing to the Thessalonians from Corinth he said of himself,
7 for this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction we have been comforted about you through your faith.
so when Paul came to Corinth he was weak, fearful, trembling, in distress and afflicted
many of us can identify with one or more of those feelings this morning!
God drew near to encourage him
Knowing his faithful servant was in trouble, God comforted Paul with friends.
new friends: Aquila and Priscilla
Paul met Aquila, another tent maker
Paul went to see both Aquila and Priscilla in their home and because they shared a trade Paul stayed with them and worked with them
they became life long friends and co-workers
they travelled with him from Corinth to Ephesus (Acts 18:18)
Paul left them at Ephesus where they met and discipled Apollos (Acts 18:26) who became a great help to believers (18:27) and publicly refuted the Jews with great power (18:28)
they risked their lives for Paul (Rom 16:4)
Paul and all the Gentile churches gave thanks for them (Rom 16:4)
the church in Rome met in their home (Rom 16:5)
writing to the Corinthians Paul mentions that the church in Ephesus met in their home (1Cor 16:19)
Paul gave a greeting to them in Ephesus in his last letter to Timothy, shortly before his death (2 Tim 4:19) - their relationship lasted the rest of their lives
old friends: Silas and Timothy
Timothy returned from serving the church in Thessalonica with amazing news of their growth and maturity
Silas returned from serving the church in Philippi with a financial gift which enabled him to minister full-time
Principle:
when we are discouraged God often sends a friend to comfort us
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,
4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
5 For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.
have you embraced that role?
remember that this characteristic so marked a man named Joseph that his name was changed to Barnabas which means, son of encouragement
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
we have this amazing device (smartphone) which enables us, in an instant, to send a message to anyone who comes to mind
are we using this wonderful tool to comfort and encourage one another??
last week:
God encouraged Paul with new friends
shared trade, shared home, shared ministry
God encouraged Paul with old friends
shared the good news of Christ building his church in spite of great opposition
this week and possibly next:
God encourages Paul with converts
God encourages Paul with his Word
God encourages Paul through opposition
Encouragement Through Converts (vv.6-8)
Encouragement Through Converts (vv.6-8)
Having received the funds from the church at Philippi, Paul was freed up to devote all of his time to the preaching of the word and prayer. (Acts 6:4)
when the time was right God freed Paul from his manual labours so that he could minister the word full-time
having proved himself faithful in little God entrusted him with greater responsibility (Lk 16:10), but not before equipping him by encouraging him
so what did he do? look at v.5,
5 When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus.
“occupied” - continuous action
freed up from his tent making, Paul devoted himself preaching and teaching full-time
as was his custom, Paul began with his own people and testified to them that Jesus was their Messiah
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
their response,
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.”
as happened in Philippi, Thessalonica and Berea, they opposed Paul and the gospel
they opposed = organized opposition
they met together and organized a campaign to stop Paul’s ministry
they reviled = they blasphemed
“him” is supplied
they either blasphemed Paul or Jesus or both
blasphemy against Jesus is a forgivable sin - Mt 12:31
blasphemy against the HS is unforgivable - Mt 12:32
Paul testified to the sinful attitude of the Jewish people toward Jesus in the letter he wrote to Thessalonians while he was in Corinth,
14 For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews,
15 who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and oppose all mankind
16 by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved—so as always to fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them at last!
it is likely this was the kind of opposition that Paul faced in Corinth
Paul’s response to the Jewish opposition: “he shook out his garments”
to understand what this means we have to turn back in our bibles to Neh 5:13,
13 I also shook out the fold of my garment and said, “So may God shake out every man from his house and from his labor who does not keep this promise. So may he be shaken out and emptied.” And all the assembly said “Amen” and praised the Lord. And the people did as they had promised.
shaking out his garment was Nehemiah’s warning of judgment on those who did not stop oppressing the poor
for Paul, an act of judgment on those who refuse to obey, having been told the truth
“Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent.”
Paul had been faithful to his Jewish brothers and sisters in giving them the gospel and when they rejected it, he was no longer responsible for them.
example of this at Jesus’ trial when Pilate did not want to take responsibility for condemning Jesus,
25 And all the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!”
Pilate did not want to convict Jesus so the Jews in effect were saying, “we take responsibility for his death”
fulfilled when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70AD
in this declaration he was saying, “I’ve been faithful to give you the Gospel, and now that you’ve rejected it, you must answer to God. I am innocent if you die in your sins!”
Principle:
this incident points us to the doctrine of human responsibility
those who rejected the Gospel would have no excuse at the judgment
they would be held responsible for rejecting the Good News that Jesus was their Messiah
and so it will be for anyone who refuses to receive Christ as their Lord and Saviour
Anyone who dies without believing in Jesus as their Lord and Saviour will be held responsible for rejecting the gospel or not calling on God. (Rom 1)
those who knew much will experience greater judgment than those who knew little
whether people oppose and blaspheme like the Jews who were given the gospel or whether they simply turn a blind eye to the myriad of ways that God reveals himself in creation it comes down to the same thing, being an enemy of God
if you are an attender here you have heard the gospel many times and if you refuse the offer of the Gospel the responsibility is your own
“From now on I will go the Gentiles.”
he stopped bringing the word directly to the Jews of Corinth
Having the gospel message taken away was a terrible judgment in light of the fact that God’s normal way of saving people is through preaching. (Rom 10:14-17)
14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?”
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
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.
what we know about Titius Justus:
he was a worshipper of God, that is, a Gentile who had joined himself to the Jewish synagogue but had not taken the final step of become a Jew through circumcision
possibly Gaius
14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,
that Crispus and Gaius are mentioned together, both here and in Acts 18:7-8, indicates that Titius Justus may have been Gaius
Romans written by Paul while he was in Corinth
in Rom 16:23 Paul says he lived with Gaius and that Gaius hosted the church meetings in his home
it is likely then that when Paul first came to Corinth he lived with Aquila and Priscilla and then when he was able to devote himself full-time to preaching, he moved to the home of Titius Justus Gaius
he went next door and taught
Although Paul was righteously angry over the Jew’s rejection of Jesus he could not bring himself to abandon them completely so he went next door and preached!
he did so knowing that many of the Jews would pass by on the Sabbath and hear him preaching and teaching and perhaps come in and hear again the gospel
and sure enough the ruler of the synagogue got saved!
and not only Crispus but his household as well!
3 other examples of whole households believing: Lydia, Philippian jailor and Stephanus
many believed and were baptized (v.8)
hearing, believed, baptized = continuous action
there was a constant stream of people coming to Christ!
The way that people come to a saving knowledge of Christ is by hearing, believing and being baptized or obeying.
remember who they were!
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,
10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
when you are discouraged, seeing people saved out of their wicked lifestyles and coming to Christ will get you encouraged faster than anything!
God encouraged Paul with new and old friends
God encouraged Paul with converts
next we will see God himself speaking encouraging words to Paul
Encouragement From God Himself (vv.9-10)
Encouragement From God Himself (vv.9-10)
God ministered to Paul personally
the comfort of friends is encouraging
seeing sinners come to Christ is uplifiting
There are times when God speaks his words of comfort to his servants. (Acts 18:9)
look what it says in v.9
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,
The vision of Acts 18:9 is one of 6 which were given to Paul.
those servants who are most faithful to God and the most diligent in serving him are the most likely to face opposition and discouragement
they are most in need of God’s comfort and he does not fail them
Jesus appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:3-6)
shortly after this God came to Paul when he was in Jerusalem preaching the gospel and warned him to get out and go to the Gentiles (Acts 22:17-18, 21)
God gave Paul a vision at Troas when he was at the end of the road and didn’t know where to turn (Acts 16:9)
God encouraged Paul in Corinth when he was full of fear and weakness and trembling (Acts 18:9-10)
God came to Paul when the Jews attacked him in Jerusalem (Acts 23:11)
God came to Paul in Acts 27 and gave him the encouraging news that though the ship he was in was going to be wrecked, all on board would be saved
all 6x there was a crisis, things looked terrible, and God came and intervened
if you are like me you are thinking to yourself, “I wish God would come to me like he came to Paul”
the reality is that God no longer does so because he had given us everything we need in his word
[read and comment on 2 Pet 1:3-11]
“don’t be afraid, but go on preaching”
the challenges Paul faced in Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea and Athen plus the daunting task of preaching in wicked Corinth, where the Jews were actively opposing his ministry, was tempting Paul to become tentative in his preaching!
God commanded Paul not to be afraid but to keep on preaching
Fear is a powerful hinderance to faithful preaching so God gave Paul 3 assurances. (Acts 18:10)
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.”
Assurance #1: Don’t stop preaching for I am with you.
emphasis on “I” = “I myself am with you”
the God who created all things in an instant and has been keeping them going for almost 10,000 years!
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
parallel example of Joshua (Josh 1:5-9)
some of you may be saying to yourself, “I wish I had that promise”
you do in Mt 28:20!
“And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
“I am with you”
what God said to Jacob when fleeing from Esau (Gen 26:24; 28:15)
what God said to his people (Isa 41:10; 43:5; Jer 30:11; 46:28; Hag 1:13; 2:4;
what God said to Jeremiah (Jer 1:8, 19; 15:20;
what God said to the remnant who were afraid to remain in Judah (Jer 42:11)
what God says to all who love and obey him: “I will never leave you” (Heb 13:5)
remember the meaning of Jesus’ name, Immanuel: God with us!
Paul was known for his boldness but in his weakness at Corinth, faced with the fierce opposition of the Jews and the overt wickedness of city, he was tempted to be quiet
God reminded him of the power behind, beside and before him, God himself!
Assurance #2: Don’t stop preaching because no one will attack you to harm you.
God to his people as he reaffirmed his covenant commitment to them
17 no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me, declares the Lord.”
if you are committed to serving the Lord no one and nothing can stand against you!
nothing can happen to us apart from God’s good and holy purposes
God to Jeremiah
18 And I, behold, I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land.
19 They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, declares the Lord, to deliver you.”
Paul’s confession at the end of his life:
17 But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth.
18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
When we understand the presence and power of God on our behalf, no Christian needs to be afraid! (1 Jn 4:4)
4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
Assurance #3: Don’t stop preaching because I have many in this city.
in effect God was promising Paul fruit for his labours
he was saying,
“keep preaching because your labours will not be in vain!”
“some of my elect are here, I have loved them from before the foundation of the world, and I have predestinated them to be saved! So keep on preaching!”
note that God didn’t tell Paul whom he had chosen
Paul’s responsibility was to preach the gospel and leave the work of drawing and saving to God
without knowing who those persons in Corinth were, Paul’s responsibility was to keep preaching the word
Paul needed to trust God to bring those whom he had chosen to hear or to guide him to preach to them
this is God’s work in salvation
in v. 6 we considered the human side of salvation, “your blood be upon your own heads”
this is the doctrine of election found throughout the NT
because of our sin nature we are completely unable to obey God = enmity (Rom 3:23; 8:7)
if God doesn’t do something about our natural enmity we will never put our faith in him
God does this in those he has chosen and for this reason they are called the elect
when God changes a person, that person’s sinful opposition is broken so that they choose to believe
I know that some of you are thinking to yourselves, “I don’t understand how God’s sovereignty and human responsibility go together!”
There is a real paradox in scripture between God’s sovereignty and human responsibility.
remember that paradoxes exist in every major doctrine
who wrote the book of Acts? Luke or the HS?
who lives the Christian life? you or the HS?
who was Jesus Christ? God or man?
so the bible teaches that if a person goes to hell it is because they refused to accept Christ and if a person goes to heaven it because they were chosen before the foundation of the world
God is sovereign and people must choose
if you have never chosen Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour let me encourage you to do so with of the very last verses of the bible:
17 The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.
if you want to come to Jesus, come, and how God is sovereign in your choosing is his problem
We see that in the vision that God encouraged Paul with power, preservation and promise.
God comforts us with friends, with converts and with his own presence
Paul stayed 18 months teaching the word
Paul’s goal to strengthen and equip the church so that it could withstand false teaching, so that it could walk uprightly, and so that it could spread the gospel
this is what every church needs: to be strengthened in its knowledge and understanding and application of the Word so that they will be able to fulfill the Great Commission
Encouragement Through Opposition (vv.12-17)
Encouragement Through Opposition (vv.12-17)
God told Paul that no one would “attack to harm him” (v.10)
he still faced opposition as we see from these verses
the question is, how does God encourage us through opposition?
God encourages through opposition in 3 ways:
1. If you are opposed by wicked people that is good, you are doing something right!
2. You can be encouraged by how ineffective they are!
though they oppose they cannot stop the gospel
this is what we find in vv.12-17
Paul’s enemies bring him before the Proconsul in the hope that he will decide against Paul and stop the forward movement of the church
came to nothing, they were ineffective, they could not stop him
3. You can be encouraged by what God does to them.
some of them get saved!
example of Crispus (Acts 18:8) & Sosthenes (1 Cor 1:1)
Lessons
Lessons
The order of salvation in 18:8
they heard, believed and were baptized
preaching, faith, obedience
God is glorified in our weakness
Paul had to learn that when he was weak he was actually strong (1 Cor 1)
We are not to fear the reactions of people
Heb 13:6: Ps 118:5-9; Ps 56:4, 10-11
Isa 51:7; 1 Pet 3:14
Consequences of fearing man:
Denying Christ: John 18:15-17; John 12:41-43
Sin: 1 Sam 15:24
People pleasing: Gal 1:10; 1 Thess 2:4
Favouritism: Dt 1:17; Ex 23:2
When we are discouraged and downhearted we are often impatient and do not want to wait for the Lord to get us out of whatever it which is giving us trouble. All we want is out!
the trouble we face is often more important to our growth and maturity than immediate deliverance
it is my experience that going through the discouragement of trouble and trial a number of times has taught me to have confidence when such times return that God is in control, that he is working it out for my good and those around me and that at the right time he will bring me out of it
14 Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!
31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
need to learn to wait for the Lord
remember that waiting is a euphemism for prayer