Rest And Work In The Sovereign Care Of God (Acts 18:1-17)
Paul had a rough time in Athens. And from there he went to Corinth, where things were not immediately any better. But God would once again show Paul that he was to rest and work in the sovereign care of God.
It’s a lesson that all of us need to hear right now. It’s a lesson that Paul had already learned to some extent quite well. But he was about to receive a deeper lesson in faith and trust in the Lord.
Paul was doing what he usually did. He was preaching the gospel in influential places. Corinth not Athens was the capital of Greece in Paul’s day. It was a town of 200,000 freed people and 500,000 slaves. At this time it was far more influential than Athens due to its economic wealth. It had 2 harbors, one on the eastern side and one on the western side. And money and trade flowed out of Corinth.
There were a large number of Jews there. But there were also a large number of Gentiles. And the leading deity worshipped there was Aphrodite.
If you read 1 and 2 Corinthians, it is obvious that Corinth was an immoral place. And I am certain that the worship of Aphrodite had something to do with that. We are not sure how much of it was going on in Paul’s day, but it is thought that cult prostitution in worship to Aphrodite was going strong at this time. And that would have influenced the cities attitudes concerning these behaviors and many others.
This is where Paul goes. He is in a place with a large number of Jewish people that had remained there after the dispersion. And there was also the worship of the same gods worshipped in Athens, but foremost above them is Aphrodite.
The beginning of his time there was incredibly frustrating. The Jews there rejected Christ and the gospel. Paul was working as a tentmaker and preaching the gospel to these Jews who were rejecting the message he delivered. And he found himself discouraged, which he speaks about in 1 Corinthians.
“And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:3-5 ESV)
Paul was there preaching in weakness and in fear and much trembling, but God was at work.
There are times of discouragement in the life of a church. There are times of deep discouragement in the life of a pastor at work preaching and teaching God’s Word. I can imagine that Paul needed to hear encouragement from the Lord. And He gave this to him.
The Lord told Paul to remain steadfast in the work, that He was with Paul, and that He would give Paul success.
Is this immediately applicable to us? Are we able to take these words to Paul and apply them to ourselves today?
I believe so. For the content of the promise given to Paul is very similar to the content given in the Great Commission.
“And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”” (Matthew 28:18-20 ESV)
In the Great Commission, the Lord told us to get to work making disciples. And He told us that He is with us as we do so.
The work that we are called to is not easy. In fact, it’s not something that we can do on our own. It is a calling that will often leave us heartbroken. And the difficulties of it will leave us feeling drained and at times completely unable to do anything. In those moments we are not going to be revived by picking up ourselves by our own bootstraps. We will be revived as we lean upon the Lord amid the many struggles of carrying out the Great Commission in our day.
We are to remain steadfast in the work and we can do this with confidence because we know that God is with us and will give success.
We Remain Steadfast In The Work
We begin this event with God sending Aquila and Priscilla to him. All the Jews were commanded to leave Rome. Christians were accounted as Jews in that day. So, the Christians were expelled as well. And this meant that Aquila and Priscilla would be there with Paul in Corinth. The reason I say that they were already believers is that the first converts in Rome were Stephanus and his household (1 Corinthians 16:15). Though the text does not elaborate, God’s providence was already shining upon Paul and the work to be done in Corinth.
But at this time there were not a lot of converts. Paul was doing everything he could. He was working as a tentmaker to provide for himself. And on his day off he was preaching at the synagogue. And he just wasn’t making any headway.
Then, Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia. Paul was able to be “occupied with the Word”. The assumption is that Silas and Timothy carried on offering from Macedonia that freed Paul up to be “occupied with the Word”. He would now be able to spend more time in prayer and preaching. But this did not immediately lead to more converts. Though he testified, the people were not converted.
Paul was very frustrated if not furious. He had testified as he was supposed to do. The people of Macedonia had supported him so that he could preach and teach more. But it still was to no avail.
Paul then alluded to Ezekiel 33. He had preached to no avail. He had been the watchmen on the wall and the people just would not listen. He cried out and they ignored him. Now, their blood was on their own heads (Ezekiel 33:9).
Even his manner of exit showed his displeasure with the people. He was likely not wearing his sandals in the building, so shaking off his clothing was a sign that he didn’t want any speck of dust from that place to remain upon him. And at this point Paul left the Jews in Corinth and would preach to the Gentiles in Corinth.
Paul went next door, in Titius’s home, and began preaching the gospel. There Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed along with a large group of Gentiles.
Paul’s emotions must have been running wild. He was a Jew. He loved his people. But they had rejected him. Immediately, he goes next door and these people believe. And the Lord came to him in a vision and said,
“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.” (Acts 18:9b-10 ESV)
And so, Paul stayed their for 1 year and 6 months preaching and teaching God’s Word. This was much longer than what was typical for Paul. But that encouragement from the Lord kept him planted there to preach and teach God’s Word to these people.
I am certain that Paul was downcast over the work he was doing in Corinth. He was preaching and teaching with very little to show for it. He was the watchmen on the wall, warning his people of the danger that lie in rejecting the Messiah and they ignored him.
At this time, he was not supported by anyone. He was supporting himself by working as a tentmaker. I am certain he was exhausted, working 6 days a week as a tentmaker and one as a preacher. During the 6 days he worked as a tentmaker he probably figured out what he was going to say when preaching. When I read this, I understand that he was working with no rest, likely exhausting himself. But it was worth it to him, if they would only listen to the message he declared and turn to the Savior.
But this, for the most part, did not happen.
When money came in to support his labor in Corinth, he spent more time in the ministry of the Word. Surely with the added time he would see converts. But it was not to be. More preaching and more study did not make more converts.
Paul finally had it. A few things probably crossed his mind. He was being supported at great cost by the Macedonian churches and nothing was happening.
“We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints– and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.” (2 Corinthians 8:1-5 ESV)
Paul was also called to be the Apostle to the Gentiles.
Do you remember what the Lord said to Ananias when Ananias did not want to help Paul? This happened all the way back in Acts 9.
“But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.” But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”” (Acts 9:13-16 ESV)
Paul was a chosen instrument to carry the name of the Lord to the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. If the children of Israel would not listen, there were other people to speak to.
And here we see the first point of the sermon today. We are to work. We are to remain steadfast in the work.
What is it that our church has always supposed to be doing? Making disciples. When is this to stop?
“Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”” (Luke 24:44-49 ESV)
It is not to stop. We are to be doing it continuously.
When the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision, what did He say “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking…”. Keep on telling people about Jesus.
Were there difficulties for Paul? Absolutely.
Do you think he was depressed over it all at times? I think that is probably the case.
He kept going and the Lord encouraged him to keep going still.
Has this church undergone difficulties? Oh yeah!
Will it undergo more difficulties? Probably.
What are we to continue doing? Making disciples.
If you’re looking for it, you’ll find that there is an obstinate faith in the Lord that people are lauded for having.
Despite all the circumstances, Abraham followed the Lord and trusted His promises.
Noah trusted the Lord a long time building a boat before there was any rain.
Joseph trusted the Lord throughout his slavery, false accusation, and imprisonment.
In Sunday School we recently studied Nehemiah and saw his stubborn faith in the Lord. It didn’t matter what he came up against, he was going to trust the Lord and build that wall.
“Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”” (Luke 9:62 ESV)
We are to put our hand to the plow and keep on plowing. There are going to be days when you don’t want to plow. There are going to be seasons when the plowing seems like it might kill you. People will betray you and seek your harm and it might feel like plowing’s just not worth it anymore. And there are times when it feels as if the plowing is just not working. But what are we to do?
We are to keep plowing for the Lord has commanded us to do so.
And we can do this confidently because the Lord is with us.
Do Not Fear For The Lord Is With You
Notice what the Lord said to Paul in our text,
“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.” (Acts 18:9b-10 ESV)
The first reason given to Paul for not being afraid and continuing to speak is that the Lord is with him.
What are we told in the Great Commission? We are told to go forth and make disciples and that the Lord is with us as we go.
“And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”” (Matthew 28:18-20 ESV)
We do not fear as we go forth declaring the gospel and making disciples because the Lord is with us. He promised this to us and we believe it. And most importantly, it is true. Therefore, we can go forth without fear.
I can’t tell you how often I have felt like giving up in ministry. I haven’t kept track because the frequency of it would scare me. And the truth of the matter is that the content of this promise from the Lord to Paul, that we also found given to us in the Great Commission are what keep me going.
Fear has often captured my thoughts. A pastor feeds the congregation God has given him. He gives his life preaching and teaching God’s Word. And, in turn, the congregation physically feeds him and his family. And sometimes things happen that seem to put that in jeopardy.
I remember being a student pastor in Green Forest. There was about 20 or so students in a church of about 120. Almost all of the students left in one day after things that the pastor had said in a private meeting about some of the members was spread out in the congregation. In my opinion, he shouldn’t have said it. And it shouldn’t have left his office. If either of those things would’ve been handled correctly the church would not have split. But it did. And it happened in one day.
We had three students, and the pastor informed me that without youth there was no need for a person on staff to work with students. I understood. I was about to be without a job, my wife had given up her job to move here and stay at home with our children, and we had just found out about our son’s diagnosis. We were still coming to grips with what that would mean for us in the future.
I looked for jobs that I could do. And it was to no avail. I would have moved across the state for any job that would provide for my family at that point. But it would not happen.
The Lord did not allow it to take place. I have 2 bum knees and a shoulder that doesn’t work if I use it too much. At that time, I had 1 bum knee and a shoulder that didn’t work if I used it too much. My education is in music, without the education portion of that degree, and seminary. Music was only good for me if I had the teacher’s licensure. And seminary was only good for me if I was working in a church setting.
I was stuck. I remember sitting in my driveway staring at the garage door thinking that there was not going to be a way to provide for my family soon.
As has often been the case, my wife has come alongside me to remind me of this truth that was proclaimed to Paul. Sometimes I need to be reminded of what I already know and she has often been the one to do that for me.
The Lord wanted me to stay. He wanted me there, in that church. I wasn’t physically able to work somewhere else. And I didn’t have the training to go anywhere else. I applied for jobs at churches and no one wanted to talk with me because I’d been at that church for such a short amount of time.
And I had to be reminded that the Lord was with me.
That’s not the only time I’ve had to be reminded. And it seems to be something that Paul had to be reminded as well.
The reality is that it is likely something that we all have to be reminded from time to time. And here I am reminding us all of this now.
Jesus promised to be with you in the Great Commission. And He promised to be with Paul here as well.
Life can be discouraging. The work of spreading the gospel can be discouraging. And we repeatedly need to be reminded of the fact that Christ is with us as we go.
And so, we do not fear.
Paul was given the promise that he would not be harmed in the attacks against him. I don’t think that this promise can be personally applied to us in the same way. We do not fear because the Lord is with us. And the Lord is protecting us and moving all things for our good. But that might mean that we are physically harmed or persecuted.
But because Christ is with us. We will ultimately not be harmed, no matter what happens to us.
That is in the message we proclaim. We proclaim that our sins are forgiven in Christ through the finished work of Christ. We proclaim that we were rebel sinners and that God the Son took on human flesh to redeem us. We proclaim that we were lost and headed to Hell without Jesus and He lived and died for us. We proclaim that because our sins are forgiven and we’ve been declared right with God through the work of Christ, we will be with the Lord forever.
We will ultimately not be harmed. Therefore we can go without fear to proclaim the good news of the gospel.
God Gives Success
Notice what else the Lord told Paul to encourage him to continue. He said, “for I have many in this city who are my people.”
This is an encouraging word if I have ever heard one. It is as if God said, “Paul keep on preaching and teaching, a lot of people will be coming to me in Corinth. I have people there. When they hear this message they will turn to me.”
These are people that God would save as Paul declared the gospel. His success was assured as he went forth with the message in Corinth. He would not be stifled as he was in the synagogue.
The salvation of a sinner is the work of Almighty God. God uses us to declare the message and God Himself changes the heart by the power of the Holy Spirit. And in this case, the assured success must have been emboldening to Paul.
I am rather optimistic as to my outlook of what Scripture says will happen with regard to the evangelization of the world.
The Disciples were commanded to go forth and make disciples of all nations. And there has been a large amount of success in that endeavor since the command was given. In fact, there are more Christians today than there were people in the world when Jesus gave the command.
When I read passages such as Isaiah 2:2, I am inclined to believe what I read. The nations will flow to the Lord.
“It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it,” (Isaiah 2:2 ESV)
Jesus told us that the gospel would go forth to the nations before He returned.
“And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” (Matthew 24:14 ESV)
If you’ve gone to many big Southern Baptist meetings, then you have likely heard this passage of Scripture. This is often spoken as people discuss the sending of missionaries out to the nations. We understand that the gospel will go forth to the nations before Jesus returns.
Jesus told a few parables that teach something similar. The kingdom of heaven begins as something small and almost unnoticeable. But over time, at a pace that is almost unintelligible it grows to enormous size.
“He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”” (Matthew 13:31-33 ESV)
What is it that we have seen happen over the course of over 2,000 years?
We have seen Christianity advance from Jerusalem, to Judea, to the ends of the Earth. And we get to be a part of that.
As we preach and teach God’s Word here and work to proclaim Christ to people here in Conway, we get to be a part of that.
Here in our little church, we have seen people come to faith in Christ and be baptized. We have seen lives changed and the Kingdom of God advance here in Conway.
As we give to missionaries through the Cooperative Program or even go ourselves, we get to be a part of that expansion.
I have no idea how many Christians among every people group there will be before the end. But they will be flowing to the Lord. The Kingdom of God has expanded and will continue to expand. And as a local church that should embolden us. It should give us hope.
Jesus told Paul that He would give Paul success. We don’t have that kind of assurance. But here is what we have. We have the Lord telling us that He will build His Church.
“And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18 ESV)
When I was in Green Forest, I felt assured that I was supposed to remain there. So I prayed and labored just knowing that the Lord was with me and that it was God that gave success.
And the youth ministry grew. It grew to be larger than it had before. And it did so through new converts. I was baptizing students often even as I was unsure of how long the church would be able to provide for our family.
The Lord was with us, He cared for us, and He gave success to the preaching and teaching of God’s Word. Blessing upon blessing was poured out upon us in that time.
And a little over a year ago this church only had about 18 people in it per week. And we were wondering what we would do as a church. We have seen people come to faith in Christ here this year. We have seen baptisms this year, which is something that was few and far between for years before that.
And I don’t believe the Lord is finished blessing the labor of Victory Baptist Church. This should embolden us to go forth and proclaim the gospel here. It should embolden us to work to make disciples here in Conway Arkansas.
It should fill us with hope and vigor to see the lost saved.
Conclusion
I want to conclude by looking at what God did in Corinth. God kept His promises. And that is how I want to conclude this message. Paul preached and taught God’s Word for 1 year and 6 months. And though I am sure there were some people that were unhappy in that time, he preached and taught relatively unharassed. That is, until the Jews attacked Paul and had him brought before the proconsul.
Did the Lord promise that nothing bad would happen to Paul? No, God promised that He would be with Paul and that Paul would have success.
The Jews brought Paul before Gallio and charged him with teaching something that was unlawful. This was probably true. Christians hid for a while under the umbrella of Judaism and received rights in Rome for a while. The Jews were claiming that the Christians were not Jews and did not deserve this protection.
The Jewish claim was not false, but in one sense it was false. In other situations, later in the Book of Acts Paul was allowed to defend himself. And in those occasions, he argued that Christ was the fulfillment and so he was a true Jew that trusted in God’s promises. But Paul was not allowed to open his mouth.
God was with him. And God protected him.
Gallio completely disregarded the Jewish complaint. Paul had committed no crime and he saw this whole thing as a matter between Jews. He refused to make any sort of judgment.
The Jews, it seems were not happy about this at all. They didn’t immediately leave the proconsul. So, he drove them out.
At this point, an even crazier part of this event is revealed to us. Sostenes, the ruler of the synagogue was seized and beaten in front of the tribunal. We assume that a mob did this. A mob committed actual violence in front of the proconsul, but Gallio refused to pay any attention to this.
We are not told, but could Sosthenes have been the man that stirred the Jews up in the first place? Could this be God putting him through a lesson because he was standing against Paul?
We don’t know. But what we do know is that God kept His promises to Paul. Paul was allowed to preach and teach, to see people come to faith in Christ, and be protected while he was in Corinth.
God keeps His promises. We see that with Paul and we see it in our own lives.
In the Great Commission Jesus didn’t just give us something to do. He gave us the promise of His presence. He told us to plow. And He told us He would be with us.
He didn’t say that it would be easy, but He did say that He would be with us. And He has told us repeatedly of the success of the expansion of the gospel over the nations.
In Green Forest we had 3 students in our youth ministry. God didn’t allow us to go anywhere. He didn’t allow us to seek aid outside of Him. And so we prayed. We prayed a lot. And we worked a lot. We soon began to see more and more students coming to the church. A group of 3 was a group of 30 students even as the church itself was dwindling due to the conflict. It was a wild time. I constantly had this tug within myself of gladness and financial fear because it wasn’t clear to me week to week that the church would be able to provide for our family. But it did. God blessed. And in that little church student after student was baptized to the amazement of that brokenhearted congregation.
And in this church, it seems that something similar is happening. It’s harder to describe it, because we’re in the middle of it. But we’re in the middle of it. God is at work growing this little church as we remain faithful to obey Him and declare the gospel.
And my hope is that this does what it did for Paul. My hope is that it spurs us to labor for the Lord. My hope is that it causes us to preach and teach with much vigor and that it sustains us in the days ahead.
R. Dwain Minor