The Acts of the Apostles

Acts 18

This week we’re on to chapter 18 and a few more adventures of Paul, so I hope you can stick with me as we read through it.

Well as you can see from the state of my hair, I followed quite literally the passage that talks about getting his head shaved, and ended up with this tennis ball on my head!!!!! Now I don’t think we’ll all take that verse as literally as I did, but I hope this morning that we’ll all be challenged and most importantly encouraged as we learn from the ups and downs of Paul’s ministry. I thought it would be good if we were to focus on the first half of this passage and work through it together to get an understanding of what is going on and then I want us to concentrate on Paul, and how he’d have felt as he sought to share the gospel.

We heard last week about Paul’s Church planting in Athens and we saw the three responses – 17v32-33a

As I was preparing this talk, it kept coming to mind, why has Luke included this Chapter at this specific point in the tale of what the apostles did? We’ve read a lot already about various Churches being planted, in fact this is the seventh Church plant and in the previous two chapters, we’ve seen the example set by Paul. As you’d expect, in this passage we see major similarities. Paul follows the usual pattern of going to the synagogue early – he reasons and seeks to persuade Jews firstly and then moves to the gentiles. However this passage does provide a slightly different insights and especially into some of the struggles that Paul had.

So why did Paul go to Corinth? As we heard last week – Athens was known as the great intellectual capital of the ancient world – in contrast Corinth was known as the great commercial center. It was the third largest city in the Roman Empire – with a population of about 200,000. We never really get to use any of those maps that we have at the back of our Bibles, so I thought it would be good – just to have a quick look at one, to see just how strategic a city it was. Corinth was on the little bit of land joining the south of ancient Greece with the mainland. I’m sorry Macedonia was on the map – I find it hard to look at, especially after Wednesday night!!

The reason for its commercial success was it’s superb location for trade - It was the link between the north and south land routes – but it was also the link between the east and west trade route – to save the ships a dangerous 200 mile journey – there was a 3 ½ mile of wooden logs, over which ships would be dragged from the one harbour on the east to other on the west. It was a prosperous, wealthy, place and with that it had so much of what the world has to offer – so much so, the word ‘corinth-ian-ize’ was associated with sexual immorality. Up above the city – was a temple to the Venus, the Greek Goddess of Love - and its said that they had 1,000 female slaves who served her, and also the local community as prostitutes.

So it was quite a wild place with lots of money and lots of the evils of the world. There was obviously great needs in Corinth, but what a great place and strategic place to share the gospel and to let it spread along all the trade routes.

So Paul went there and the first thing that we see in verse 2 was that he connected with some of the few other Christians that there were in the town – Priscilla and Aquilla - We can see in verse 3 how he had their main things in life in common – they were all saved and they were ‘tentmakers’ by profession. Paul started off working ‘full-time’ as a tentmaker. He didn’t want to be a burden to either the Church that had sent him, or the people who he was working with. Paul says in his second letter to the Church here in Corinth, "I have kept myself from being a burden to you in any way" (2 Cor 11v9). Yet when the opportunity arouse for him to be able to "devoted himself exclusively" to sharing the gospel, he took it. Paul and Silas came from Macedonia, presumably bringing financial gifts meaning that Paul could spend more of his time working sharing the gospel. At all times, whether working ‘full-time in secular work’ or doing ‘full-time Christian work’ Paul was focused on sharing gospel.

Every Saturday, Paul went down to the most strategic place, that being the synagogue. He meet the people where they were at, both physically, he was in the synagogue and also mentally, reasoning, and seeking to persuade them. Quite strong verbs, reasoning and seeking, persuading. He wanted people to use their minds, but there was a real persistency and urgency – it wasn’t just a case of presenting the facts, but also of longing for them to believe. Paul wasn’t ‘doing evangelism’ because he had to, but longed to see people saved.

Paul’s sharing that Jesus was the Christ caused strong reactions. Firstly in the Jews and then in Paul. We can see in verse6, that the Jews oppose him and then become abusive to him a reaction that Paul had seen before in Thessalonica - Acts 17 (v5). Paul reacts by shaking out his clothes in protest and says to them "Your blood be on your own heads! I am clear of my responsibility" (18v6) Quite a bizarre thing to do, but if you turn with me to Luke 10 we can see the huge significance in what Paul was doing. If we read from verse 8. READ

Jesus gives the clear command to the 72 – if they are not welcome in town, then they’re free to leave and they must give a clear message of judgment, shaking your clothes and kicking the dust off your feet – is saying - You’re rejecting the message of Jesus Christ, and you’ll be answerable to God for that on the day of judgement – the people who hear the message have a responsibility - quite hard stuff, but exactly what Jesus commanded.

So Paul gets kicked out by his own people, and yet even after such a hard rejection he doesn’t use it as an excuse to have a breather and not share the gospel. God provides an brilliant opportunity for Paul to go next door and continue with his evangelism. Paul says in Romans how he first longed to share the message with the his people, the Jews and how after they’d chosen to reject him, he took his message to the gentiles. In 11v14 he says how he hopes that he may "somehow arouse my own people to envy and be saved".

And while there we see the first visible fruit of Paul’s evangelism, by the Synagogue ruler Crispus being saved in verse 8, and many other believing and being baptism – believing and being baptised coming together.

So Paul has just seen this fruit and for whatever reason, God feels it necessary to encourage him in what he is doing. The Lord appears to him in a vision in v9 and assures him of the authority of the Living God and that He is a constant presence in that city. 5 points of the message

God has a great purpose for that city, which he will work out. Paul has a responsibility to continue to evangelism and fulfill the great commission. This obviously has a deep impact on Paul, and gives him the encouragement to continue to share the gospel and teach the truth. Paul stays for a year and half.

Having seen the reaction to the gospel in people being saved, we can see that not for the first time Paul is in trouble with the authorities. We’ve seen it happen in Thessalonica (chapter 17) and in Philippi, when they were in jail (Chapter 16). But this time Paul doesn’t even get a chance to speak and the case is struck out of court. Gallio is not interested, and they’re left to sort it out amongst themselves, which results in mob violence and a beating. In line with God’s promise that Paul will suffer no harm, there's no mention of him, but it does bring greater understanding to Paul’s fears about being in Corinth.

Having been kept say for the whole time during his stay in Corinth, Paul then leaves and goes off to Ephesus and Caesarea.

So what are the key points – well I have to apologise and say that much as tried to avoid the going down the path of alliteration!!, I couldn’t help it that they all start with the same letter but hopefully it will help us to remember better!!!!!

Fear in sharing the gospel

The first one is Fear – Paul fears. In 1 Corinthians 2v3 Paul says "I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling." Paul knew of the reputation of the city in Corinth and had great fear before arrived – maybe that’s the reason he connected with other believers straight away. But that fear obviously remained while he was in Corinth and for whatever reason, God felt it necessary to appear to Paul in a vision. And the first words Paul hears are "Do not be afraid". The great evangelist Paul, who’d been kicked out of a number of other cities before for sharing the gospel and so knew what it was like to suffer in sharing the gospel – needed encouragement, from other people, but most importantly from God.

Last January I was on the panel for a grill-a-Christian in one of the bars on the campus at Sussex University. The idea of a grill-a-Christians is that you have a panel of Christians who take any questions from the floor – one of the best ways of evangelising at universities. Anyway for days beforehand my stomach was all over the place and I felt physically sick just before I went in. The bar was packed over 80 people crammed in – and a real hostile atmosphere, just waiting for the Christians to come in and be ripped apart by the lions!!! And for me personally I just felt the evening got worse and worse and I was praying that the ground would swallow me up. After it, I did the usual self-appraisal and said I’d never do anything like that again, obviously I’m not kitted out for it and you can’t do something like that again, if you’ve got that much fear. And yet the great evangelist Paul had fear. He’d even just seen people saved and still needed encouragement to continue. He knew his duty in getting on and sharing the gospel. The importance of the gospel and the need to proclaim it as best he could. Sometimes we have fear in the sense of being afraid that we’ll be lynched/shouted out, but the majority of the time our fears extend more down the path of just be worried about losing our friendships, or fear of sounding too judgmental. It’s sometimes helpful to put those fears in context. REBECCA MANLEY-PIPPETT QUOTE. Paul had a fear of being beaten even stoned to death, yet its what he did with those fears that so important.

Faithful in sharing the gospel

Even though Paul had great fear, it didn’t stop him from being faithful to the gospel. After we’re told about Paul’s vision, in v11, we read that he stayed for a year and half. Now that sounds like quite a long time to me, it may not be to you, but when you consider all the other needs that Paul had seen in other cities, to spend such a huge proportion of his time there is a huge commitment. It can’t have been an easy time, being kicked out of the Synagogue and then later witnessing the mob violence, because of the gospel being shared. And yet in 1 Corinthians 1v18, Paul says how he proclaimed the Christ and the cross. That was the most important thing to Paul, and what he wanted to talk about more than anything else. Both when he was in full-time secular work and the full-time Christian work – he just on with the job of sharing the gospel – that was what was most important thing – faithfully sharing the word of God. Even after Paul had left the city, he remained to looking out for and caring for the community. He was faithful in discipling and caring for the community as well as sharing the gospel. He was faithful and he knew that God was and would be faithful to him. He was able to trust God for his protection, and provisions and also he was able to trust God with the results of his ministry.

Trusting God for the fruitfulness of the gospel

And that’s the third and final point, the gospel’s fruitfulness. Paul did his job in sharing it, and it’s God job to make the seed grow. Last year I was getting so frustrated with the apparent lack of fruit in our evangelism. We were sharing the gospel and yet we seemed to be failing to see as much as I’ve have hoped and as we were praying for. We were trying to be as strategic as we could and to follow Biblical models. We’ve seen through Acts how Paul has adapted his approach to take account of the culture that he is in, and we need that flexibility but the message of Jesus was and is the same. Some will accept it, but others aren’t going to like it.

Paul, who we would probably say was incredibly "successfully" in inverted commas, saw incredibly mixed results when he shared the message, but when people understood it, it caused a reaction. Not only was the message that Paul preached rejected, but he was kicked out of public places, and saw people beaten due to their response to the gospel. Paul also saw a huge variety of people impacted by the message. It effected the religious types – gentiles v7, Titius Justus - Jews v8 tells about Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue being saved; the irreligious were saved (1 Corinthians 6v9-10) and also those in commerce (Erastus (city treasurer/official) Romans 16v23). God brought fruit from every strata of society. Paul did see people saved, and obviously we must be longing and praying to see the same thing, but we need to be able to trust God with the results of our evangelism. God had many people in that city, and he chose to use Paul to share the truth with them, while the Holy Spirit caused them to repent.

So Paul had fear in sharing the gospel message, but he was faithful in sharing the message, and trusted God with the fruitfulness of the gospel. What a challenge to us. AS I was reading and studying the passage – I got great comfort. The great apostle Paul who’s up on a pedestal up here, had fears like I do! He was scared and yet he trusted God and I too can trust that same God. Harpenden’s a bit different from Corinth, but there are also many similarities – its hard to be sharing the gospel and yet just had Paul had a job to stay faithful, so have we and we can trust God with the results and also our fears.

Let’s pray

Andrew Lower