Acts 18:1-22
Notes
Transcript
Have you ever quit on something too soon?
I’m not sure how many times in my life I’ve given up on things or certain situations too soon to see them through and regretted it.
I look back over my short 14-15 years in ministry (12+ years in this church) and remember when the going got tough, I wanted nothing more than to quit, throw in the towel.
But, what I do remember is when the going got tough and I wasn’t in the right mindset; the Lord would often send the right people at exactly just the right time to encourage Alisha and I in the ministry and were willing to work alongside us.
But isn’t that just like the Lord?
It is no different here in Acts 18, Paul found great encouragement and a second wind from Aquila and Priscilla and conversion of Crispus who we’ll talk about in a little bit.
9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,
45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Corinth was not a major city population wise, at only about 200,000 people but still served as one of two massive trading and commerce centers, Ephesus being the second.
But Corinth’s reputation for wickedness was known all over the Roman Empire.
Romans 1 gives some vivid insight of the sin that was in Corinth.
Extortion, greed, strange philosophies, new religions and many other worldly shenanigans took place in Corinth.
Sin was running rampant but Paul knew he was sent there by God to minister to the people there.
While there he became discouraged until the Lord sent him help along the way in the times he needed it most...
LET’S PRAY
READ ACTS 18:1-2
Why were Aquila and Priscilla and other “Jews”, forced to leave Rome?
In AD 49 Claudius expelled Jews because of the “rioting” over the teaching of Jesus as the Messiah.
This message was being swept across Rome in the synagogue’s and was attracting Gentiles, Roman citizens away from the customary Roman beliefs.
This wasn’t the first time Jews came into conflict with the Roman government before.
In 139 BC they were expelled for “corrupting Roman morals” and again in AD 19, under Tiberius the Jews were expelled from Rome for similar reasons.
But in AD 49 the Jews which were also Christians because Rome didn’t find a difference between the two were expelled because it was disturbing the normal Roman way of life.
People were following the teachings about Jesus verses Roman traditions.
Even though Aquila and Priscilla were expelled as “Jews” they were really Jewish Christians.
The thought is that they were one of the ones in the synagogues in Rome arguing that Jesus was the Christ.
So, they would’ve been considered ringleaders and needed to leave.
But in AD 54, Jews were able to return to Rome, unfortunately for Christians Nero, Claudius’ step son would come to power at the age of 16, as Claudius died because he was fed a plate of poisonous mushrooms by his wife Agrippina.
The Romans were known for creative ways for disposing of people.
Nero came to be one of the worst tyrant leaders and persecutors of Christians in all of history.
READ ACTS 18:3-5
For the first time we are told what Paul’s trade was and he shared it with Aquila and Priscilla (his new friends and fellow believers) to make a living there in Corinth.
H worked to prove to those in Corinth that he wasn’t a “religious swindler” he supported himself as a tent maker.
He wasn’t like the other traveling evangelists that took advantage of people and mooched off of them, he wanted to show them he was committed to earning his keep and being a productive citizen for the time that he was there.
Each sabbath he and probably they also would go to the synagogues to reason with Jews and Greeks about faith in Christ.
The Lord, just at the right time, sent devoted helpers to Paul to give him that extra encouragement that he needed.
Was was a great evangelist but how much would he actually have accomplished on his own?
The Lord always sent help with him in the ministry and especially when he needed it most.
As Warren Wiersbe simply put it, ”from a human perspective, there most likely wouldn’t have been a church in Corinth if it weren’t for the devotion and service of many different people.”
There would absolutely not be a First Christian Church today at 926 Madison Street if it weren’t for the many people God used to shape and grow this place over the 140+ years that we’ve existed.
And He’s not done with us yet, amen?!
READ ACTS 18:6-8
If we look back to each time the Lord worked through a place that Paul visited we can see that the enemy was working against him.
Even though in a place like Thessalonica where Jewish opposition forced Paul to leave, here in Corinth he stood his ground.
6 But when they opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent of it. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”
This is an OT image for showing that, “you’ve had your opportunity, but now it’s over!”
Today we might say similarly, “we are washing our hands of a situation.”
Even though Paul didn’t stop witnessing to the Jews, his primary calling was to the Gentiles.
The second image, “blood is on your heads” comes from the image of a watchman on a wall.
17 “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. 18 When I say to a wicked person, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn them or speak out to dissuade them from their evil ways in order to save their life, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. 19 But if you do warn the wicked person and they do not turn from their wickedness or from their evil ways, they will die for their sin; but you will have saved yourself.
There would be blood on someones hands if they knew they had an obligation to warn someone of their death but they chose not to.
But “blood on your heads” means that you are the only one to blame for your own judgment.
You had the opportunity to be saved but you turned it down.
19 If any of them go outside your house into the street, their blood will be on their own heads; we will not be responsible. As for those who are in the house with you, their blood will be on our head if a hand is laid on them.
In Paul’s case, he knew he was being faithful in declaring the message of the Gospel but the Jews had their own blood on their heads because the rejected God’s truth.
And right after this discouraging incident, God brought another friend into Paul’s life… Titus Justus.
Rather than using the synagogue as his place for preaching, Paul transitioned to Titus’ house.
Titus Justus was the synagogue leader and had just came to faith in Christ, can you imagine the uproar that would’ve caused in the Jewish community that their own leader came to faith in Christ?
As Paul showed, faith is obeying God’s will regardless of how we feel, our circumstances, or consequences.
In fact, there is never an easy place to serve God and this was evident in Paul’s ministry, if there was an easy place it’s possible something is wrong.
Theologian Francis Bacon put it this way, “in the OT the blessing was prosperity, but in the NT the blessing was adversity.”
READ ACTS 18:9-17
Isn’t it like the Lord that when things get super tense in life and we feel like we’re at our wits end, He speaks to us calmly to reassure us that He’s with us?
5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,
“Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.”
10 So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
One of our Lord’s names is “Emmanuel- God with us”
23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
And knowing the Lord’s track record through His Word, He lives up to His name.
God is with us through everything.
No mater what you face, right now, in all of your circumstances- God is with you!
Don’t forget that simple yet profound and comforting truth.
It could be the difference in throwing in the towel and quitting early or sticking it out in a hard situation only to come out the other side to reap the blessings.
In spite of opposition, Paul saw many converted to Christ in the 18 months he spent in Cornith.
It’s interesting to note that the church in Corinth was not made up of noble or perfect people but of sinners whose lives were completely changed by the grace of God.
9 Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. 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.
We are no different, we are all sinners saved by grace!
I find it interesting how the Jews tried another tactic, seeing a new proconsul arrive, the Jews thought they could label this new church as an illegal sect.
Unfortunately for them, the new proconsul defended Paul among the Jews.
The Proconsul saw that the real issue was not the application of the Roman law but instead the interpretation of the Jewish religion.
On the other side, the Greeks got Sosthenes (the new synagogue leaders who replaced Crispus), and beat him in front of the Proconsul.
The proconsul didn’t give it a thought and looked at the Christian believers as practicing their religion in the same way that the Jewish believers were.
READ ACTS 18:18-22
“If God will.”
This should be the statement we all make as life ebbs and flows.
As believers we easily go about our own will, but as Paul declared here in verse 21, it is God’s will that we should be more concerned with.
Knowing and doing God’s Will is one of the greatest blessings of the Christian life.
And after 18 months of ministering in Corinth he found it was God’s will to move on back to his home church in Antioch.
Even though Aquila and Priscilla left Paul in Ephesus, their story is far from over and we’ll hear from them again.
As far as Paul cutting his hair off, it wasn’t a salvation issue, rather a devotion decision.
He allowed his hair to grow for a specific length and then cut it when the vow was completed.
It was a promise or vow that he made to God and he kept it until the determined time.
Looking back, up until the end of Paul’s time in Corinth, there were times when I’m sure he wanted to give in and quit, just like us.
However, his understanding that the Lord was with him and knowing that the Christian life wasn’t easy led him to blessing even in the midst of hard times.
If he was here with us today I’m sur he would say something like, “It’s always too soon to quit! Hang in there and trust in the Lord!”
I’m sure he remembered Solomon’s words in Proverbs 3...
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.
He later went on to write to the church at Philippi,
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
The Christian life is hard.
It is not a broad path, easy to travel.
There’s going to be storms we’ll encounter.
The enemy will attack as we are on the right track.
But we can’t forget this truth:
22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
LET’S PRAY