7-11 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.
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, 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.” 11 And he stayed a year and six months,
teaching the word of God among them.
Corinth, when Paul came to town, was
one of the important cities of the Roman Empire. It was a center of commerce
and trade. At the same time, it was a
center of evil. Corinth had a high place that stood about 2000 feet above the
city. On top of that Acropolis was a temple to Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of
sex. There were some 1000 priestesses who
were, in reality, religious prostitutes.
In fact, the city was so corrupt, morally, that it’s very name was a synonym of
immorality and debauchery. We will begin looking at the letters Paul wrote to
the Corinthian church. Paul was the founding pastor of the church and was
deeply concerned about the divisions in the church.
Paul was on his second missionary journey. Let’s look at Acts 16:6-10 And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia,
having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. 7 And
when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the
Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. 8 So, passing by Mysia,
they went down to Troas. 9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the
night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over
to Macedonia and help us.” 10 And when Paul had seen the
vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had
called us to preach the gospel to them.
Paul and Silas set out on a long
journey that we call the second missionary journey. On the first missionary tour Paul had been accompanied by Barnabas.
Before the second tour started Paul and Barnabas had a disagreement about the
makeup of their team. The result of that disagreement was to bring Silas into
the picture.
They traveled from Antioch in Syria
overland through what is today Turkey. In the beginning,
they were simply encouraging the churches that had already been established on
the first journey. Then they set out to go into northern Turkey and the Holy
Spirit stopped them.
As they
made their way through the Roman provinces that we recognize today as modern
Turkey and after having been stopped from preaching in those regions they found
themselves at Troas. During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia
urging him to come over and help them. Also, at that time Doctor Luke joined
the team! We know that because in Acts 16:10 the pronoun used is “we sought to
go” rather than, “they sought to go”. Luke was the author of the book of Acts
and from this point forward he is, most of the time, part of the team.
Continuing
their journey by boat they crossed over to Philippi where they were very
successful in evangelism. First, they led a group of women to Christ down by
the river and then, by being arrested, Paul and Silas were able to witness to
the jailer and his family. Then they traveled on to Thessalonica, Athens, and
then to Corinth.
At Corinth, they met Aquila and Priscilla who were
Christians that had come from Rome. They joined with Paul in the tent making business that was his primary support during
his ministry. This freed Paul up to preach in the local synagogue. Very soon
there was serious opposition.
Even though
he spoke to both Jews and Greeks…
He was resisted by many of the Jews. Let’s look at Acts 18:6. 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.
This was Paul’s normal pattern of
ministry. He would go to the Jewish community first because they had the Bible
and an expectation of the coming Messiah. With this serious opposition…
He withdrew from the synagogue. Let’s read on in Acts 18:7. 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.
During the first 300 years of the
existence of the Christian church, there
were seldom ever buildings dedicated to church usage. Usually, they would rent a hall or meet in homes. The church in
Jerusalem, though it was made up of a very large number of people, met in the
temple courtyard for their large group meetings and in private homes for small
group meetings.
The synagogues, by and large, were
simply beginning places and did not develop into permanent housing for the
local church. There is no known building that was set aside as a church meeting
place earlier than the year 240. That building is located in northern Syria.
As time goes by in America we are
seeing more and more small group churches meeting in homes. In other countries,
especially China, house churches are very common. As time goes by Chinese house
churches tend to join with one another and rent or construct a building large enough
to hold their meetings. Ownership is sometimes difficult to establish in such
cases.
As was his normal practice, Paul
started in the local synagogue and moved away from it when the opposition grew
too great. This brings me to an interesting idea. You see…
Our view of Paul’s ministry has always been that of a fearless
champion of the gospel let’s look at Philippians
4:11-13. Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in
whatever situation I am to be content. 12 I know how to be
brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have
learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13 I
can do all things through him who strengthens me.
“I have learned how to be content!”
Whatever the circumstance everything will be okay. And then that powerful
verse, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” This verse is often
quoted to encourage us to be bold and strong. So we look at Paul and see him
carrying on no matter what the circumstances are.
This is one time that was representative
of the many times that Paul was confronted with difficulties. The opposition
seems so great and the support so small! He now found himself — the bold
faithful apostle of Jesus Christ — confronted by enemies on all sides. Yes, he
had great faith and great ability…
Yet, even he needed a pep talk. Look at Acts 18:9-10. And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not
be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, 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.”
What a wonderful experience that
must’ve been. I can picture the scenario! Our beloved Apostle found himself
wondering if he was in the right place. Anytime we are confronted with serious opposition that question has to come to
mind. I have felt it many times and have never yet received a direct visit from
the Lord. I have studied the experiences in the book of Acts as well as many
missionary stories. When I feel discouraged I think of those who have fought
their way through to establish ministries that glorified Christ.
So, I see Paul going into his room
lying on his bed wondering what to do next. Been there, done that, many times.
As he lay there — did he see a form or simply hear a voice? — And he heard the
words, “Do not be afraid…”. Now I never would have accused Paul of being
afraid! But obviously he was. Otherwise, our Lord would not have told him not
to be afraid.
Paul was considering stopping
preaching. How do I know that? Because our Lord said “go on speaking” and “do
not be silent”! Why would he have said that if that were not what Paul was
considering doing? I’m reminded of an Old Testament story found in the first
book of Kings. It’s the story of Elijah! He had been very successful in
opposing the evil prophets and priests of Baal! He challenged them to a
contest. They would prepare an altar with wood with a sacrifice on it and
Elijah would prepare an altar. The only stipulation was they could not light
the fire they had to have Baal do that! They spent the entire day praying to
their God even to the point of cutting their flesh and crying out loud. Elijah
spent the day making fun of them. At the time of the evening sacrifice, Elijah constructed an altar, placed
the wood on it, placed a sacrifice on it, dug a trench around it, and covered
it with water until the trench was filled. Then he prayed, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac and
Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your
servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. Answer me, O Lord,
answer me that this people may know that
you, O Lord, are God and that you have turned their hearts back.” (1 Kings
18:36-37) When he prayed that prayer fire fell from heaven and burned up the
sacrifice, the wood and the stones, and the dust and the water that was in the
trench! Then immediately the people proclaimed that Yahweh was God Almighty!
Then all the priests of Baal were brought together and killed. Possibly the
most successful public conflict between God and Satan was experienced that day.
Now, we would think that after all
that Elijah would be on the high spiritual plane for the rest of his life.
Instead, he received a message from Queen Jezebel promising that she would have
him killed before the day was over! After having defeated 850 prophets and
priests Elijah ran from one woman.
He went on 40 days of wandering in the wilderness before he met with God and got
it all straightened out and went back on the track God had for him.
Paul’s experience was not that
difficult and I’m sure Paul knew the story of Elijah very well. Yet, he needed
a pep talk after which he could look back on this experience in Corinth. When
he wrote the first letter to the Corinthians…
He wrote the church reminding them. Let’s look at that reminder 1 Corinthians 1:26. For consider your
calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards,
not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.
He wanted them to remember that in
those early days there were not many powerful people on their side. There were
not many that the world considered important or wise. There were not many of
noble birth. But they were successful in their early days as a church. I am
afraid we fall into a trap set by the devil that says if we do not have people
of influence on our side we won’t make it.
In order to witness to men, we look for Christian athletes. We look
for successful entrepreneurs who claim the name of Christ. We think somehow
there has to be someone of influence on our side or we will be a failure. We
need to remember that Paul not only reminded them of the beginnings he also
wrote…
Assuring them. Let’s read on 1 Corinthians 1:30-31. And because of him
you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and
sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written,
“Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
Look at those amazing words! Not,
“because of our abilities”, instead it is “because
of him you are in Christ Jesus,”. When we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
the Spirit of God comes to live in us! Sometimes we have remarkable feelings at
the point of salvation other times we simply walk by faith. Because it’s not
our strength or our feelings that count! It is Christ Jesus who becomes for us
wisdom from God! Righteousness and sanctification and redemption is from God
not from us. So we can boast in the Lord and not in ourselves.
We must remember that we have been
called by God and not by some human institution. Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran,
etc. give us an idea of the historical background. What counts is Christ
crucified, buried and raised again. For the next few weeks, when I am
preaching, we will look at the major themes in the Corinthian letters. We will
see Paul developing and growing as a church planter and theologian. There is
nothing in the word of God that does not apply to us today. We need to let the
word of God speak for itself and bring men and women to salvation in Christ
Jesus.
All scriptures quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English
standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
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