Craziness in Corinth

Review of Corinth:

Super Proud City

Major City in the Roman Empire

Julius Caesar had beautifully rebuilt in 46 BC: Conquered and rebuilt

“Wealthiest cit in the Ancient Greek World”

Capital City of Achaia, superseding the prominence of Athens.

Athens: City in Decline

Corinth: City on the rise!

Major port city. Plenty of wealth. Loaded with culture.

Lots of hustle and bustle

Markets, Baths, theaters, temples,

Situated on an Isthmus: A very small body of land that connects to larger areas

Corinth: Two ports

Diolkos: Road: 6th Century

Saved boats from having to navigate around the Palepanich

Sports City! World-famous Isthmian games which it hosted every other year, and of its political prestige as the capital of provincial Achaia, taking precedence even over Athens.

Super Sin City

Acrocorinth:

Temple of Aphrodite, the goddess of love.

A thousand female slaves served her and roamed the city’s streets by night as prostitutes.

To corinthianize meant to practise immorality.

9x ‘sexual immorality’ in I Corinthians

Word of Courage

“Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent,”

Plenty to be Thankful for:

Arrives in Corinth

Priscilla and Aquila: Makes tents together

Titius Justus: Moves next door of the Synagogue

Crispus: the ruler of the synagogue, became a believer, and his household!

Many Corinthians believed and we baptized...

But! There’s conflict again with his own people:

Immediate conflict at the Synagogue

Chronic fear of retaliation...

Easier just to leave Corinth and just get out of there...

But after the conflict, Jesus meets Paul in this moment:

“Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent”

Last week: Gospel in Culture: How to reach culture?

The Kingdom culture is so different!

Example as to why culture is different:

Things to guard, but we have nothing to fear!

Pride Month

Commercials

Agendas in movies

But we don’t have visions of Jesus saying to us, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent...”

We may not have those visions, but we still have Jesus speaking to us through this passage!

“Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent.”

Some of us just need to hear this passage: Do not be afraid! Do not be afraid when you are out and about, at the grocery store, at work, at school, do not be afraid. Like, for you middle schoolers and high schoolers, you’re faced with pressure today far more intense than anything any other generation has had to face. It’s a confusing and chaotic culture we live in, and Jesus reminds us all this morning: Do not be afraid! Not for Paul, he was encouraged to keep speaking and do not be silent, and I think that’s also a challenge for us as well. It’s one thing not being afraid, it’s another thing not being afraid to keep speaking the Gospel.

Back when I was a kid, the Christian Band Newsboys came out with a song called, “I’m not ashamed.”

What are we sneaking around for? Who are we trying to please? Shrugging off sin, apologizing like we're spreading some kind of disease I'm saying, "No way, no way" I'm not ashamed to let you know I want this light in me to show I'm not ashamed to speak the name of Jesus Christ

That song actually gave me a lot of hope as a 13 year old boy.

That song, of course, comes from Romans 1:16 “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.”

Word of Comfort

10 “for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you,”

What’s all happened to Paul just on this Second Missionary Journey

God closed the doors in Galatia

Whipped in Philippi

Jailed in Philippi

Escaped a mob in Thessalonica

Narrowly escaped another uprising in Berea

Mocked in Athens

After the conflict with the Jews in Corinth, it’s like, what’s next?? What’s waiting for me this time??

BUT JESUS STEPS IN… and provides words of courage and comfort:

For I am with you...

Promise given to all of us who suffer

And the promise of the Lord’s presence belongs to us just as it did with Paul:

Matthew 28:20: “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Not I WILL be with you, but I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS

Lit. I AM with you every day! Every day, Jesus is with you...

We have this same promise… I am with you...

But then Jesus makes an unique promise to Paul…

No one will attack you to harm you…

While you live next door to the synagogue, though there’s a bunch of people who want you gone, you will not be hurt...

But, it makes you wonder… did this promise come with an expiration date?

Year and a half later: Acts 18:12 “But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the tribunal.”

Gallio: 51AD

II Corinthians; Written 56 AD

Click:

II Corinthians 11:23–29 “Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. 24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?”

Was this a Promise with an expiration date?

No commentary I read picked this up.

For a year and a half.

For a year and a half: Safety

No one will attack you to harm you, until someone does!

Sabbatical from Suffering

Rest from pain

Rest from attack

But that didn’t last, because the purpose of the sabbath from suffering came to an end.

Word of Commission

“for I have many in this city who are my people.”

Jesus says, “You need to stay here, and I will protect you, and I will be with you because “I have many in this city who are my people.”

Reason for Rest wasn’t even necessarily for Paul, but was for others who are God’s people!

Huge Theological Statement!

One of the more clearer examples of God’s sovereignty and Salvation.

“My people are here, but they’re not saved yet...”

“My people are here, they just don’t know it yet.”

“They belong to me, they just don’t know it.”

“I have their destination already picked out, they just don’t know it yet.”

Is the word Predestination in the Bible?

Romans 8:29 “29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”

Ephesians 1:5 “he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.”

Ephesians 1:11 “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.”

Sovereignty yet our Participation:

Predestination assumed the work of evangelism!

Can’t sit on our hands!

This has always been the case: God’s People are out there, and the Holy Spirit uses the Church to reach them!

Transformissional Coaching: Ogne, Steve; Roehl, Tim

“80, 80, 80, 80, 2, 1” reality.

Eighty percent of Americans are unchurched.

Eighty percent of churches have either plateaued or are in decline.

Eighty percent of unchurched people say they are at least somewhat willing to have a spiritual conversation or say yes to a personal invitation to attend church with a friend they know and trust.

Eighty percent of Christians never invite anyone to church.

Two percent of Christians ever invite an unchurched person to church.

Less than one percent of all giving to Christian ministries is invested in the least reached people of the world.

Of those who do attend a church, only 52 percent are committed believers.

In the past fifty years we have failed to win even 2 percent of the population to Christ—and that includes our own children.

At any given time, 75 percent of clergy want to quit.

Although we are planting more churches than ever before, we would still need to plant over 300 more churches a year just to keep up with population growth.

This area:

Wake County:

3rd fastest growing county in the country

62.5 people move into Wake County each day

Apex: about 6 new people each day.

Cary: About 10 new people each day

Holly Springs: 4.5 people new each day

Connection

Word of Courage:

You can do it!

Don’t give up

Word of Comfort:

The Lord is with you. He will give you seasons of rest and seasons of suffering

Word of Commission

People are out there!

They belong to Jesus. God invites us into his mission to evangelize.