Walking Through Acts

Acts 18:1

After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.

Last week we found ourselves in the city of Athens. Athens was known for its

idolatry. Today, Paul’s missionary journey takes us to the city of Corinth. One may

think at first that perhaps this next city may be a bit better in terms of morality

than Athens. However, that is not the case. In actuality, it was just as bad if not

worse. And as evidence to this fact, the term Corinthian was a pejorative term. It

meant you were immoral, and more often than not it meant you were sexually

immoral. A “Corinthian companion” was a prostitute. Why would Paul choose a

city like Corinth to preach the gospel and start a church? You see, when someone

becomes a Christian they surrender their lives to God wherever He calls them.

Now sometimes, God calls people to things that aren’t very difficult. However, as

we’ve seen time and again in Scripture, God often calls his people to do very

difficult things. Uncomfortable things, inconvenient things. Have you ever felt God

leading you somewhere you don’t want to go? Or to do something you don’t want

to do? I’m sure a lot of us can relate to Jonah when he was asked to go to

Nineveh. Imagine you’re Daniel trying to live a Godly life in Babylon. Or the

prophet Isaiah when God was calling for someone to share a message to the

Israelites which ended up being a message that would not be so easy to give.

What was Isaiah’s response? “Here I am! Send me.”

What’s your response to God whenever he calls you to something? Is it, “let me

think about it.” “I’m not ready.” “Ask someone else. I’m not the right person.” Let’s

take a look at what happened to Isaiah before he made his response to God’s call.

Isaiah 6:1-5In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and

lifted up; and the train[a] of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the

seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he

covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;

the whole earth is full of his glory!”[b]

4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and

the house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a

man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my

eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

Isaiah was struck with awe. He was in awe of God. And so, whenever we are faced

with a choice to follow God’s calling for us, who are we to say no? Our awe of God

will transcend any and all challenges that we will face no matter how challenging

or how difficult.

So now I will return to my original question. Why did Paul choose to go to the

Corinth? Well, we know he was led by the Holy Spirit. He must’ve known about

the city’s reputation for it was not something that was inconspicuous, for where

immorality runs rampant there’s no shame. Yet, he goes. Apart from this first

reason, that God called and Paul followed, there’s also a strategic reason for Paul

starting a Church in Corinth. Corinth was the capital of the Roman province called

Achaia. Because of its location, it was the commercial center for the ancient

world. People coming and passing through from all over. And if Paul could start a

Church in such a place, the reach of the gospel would be much further and the

rate at which it was spread would be much faster. So Paul is living his life in

complete surrender to God’s will, even if it means stepping foot into the city of

Corinth.

Acts 18:2-3

2 And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy

with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave

Rome. And he went to see them, 3 and because he was of the same trade he

stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade.We’re going to hear more about Aquila and Priscilla in next week’s sermon. Here

we learn that Aquila and Priscilla are tentmakers. Now the term tentmaker can

refer to someone who makes tents for a living, but the word is much broader than

that. In this day, tents were made from leather or a tough fabric that came from

goats’ hair. This fabric would be very durable and was used not only for tents, but

also for sails on ships. Now we also learn that Paul shared this trade in common

with them. Paul in his younger years had been taught the trade of tentmaking. It

was a regular custom among the Jews to teach their sons some useful trade, so

that they would always have a way to earn an honest living.

Gamaliel, who was Paul’s teacher has been quoted saying, “Learning of every kind,

unaccompanied by a trade, ends in nothing, but leads to sin.” Another Jewish

teacher said, “Let a man always teach his sons pure and easy trades.” Another

said, “Not to teach one’s son a trade is like teaching him robbery.” And so, it

makes sense to us that Paul, growing up a Jew, would have acquired skills in a

trade and this particular trade just so happens to be tentmaking.

What we gather from this account is that through a sharing of a common

occupation, Paul makes a connection with Aquila and Priscilla and he stays with

them while he works alongside them in their tentmaking business.

Acts 18:4

4 And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews

and Greeks.

Just as in Paul’s other visits to different cities he heads straight for the synagogue

first. And it is there where he reasons the reasonable faith he has in Jesus as the

Messiah. And I love how the Bible says that he tries to persuade the Jews and

Greeks. I think we often overlook the responsibility that we have as Christians to

build a case for our faith. Why do you believe what you believe? I’ve had people

come to my office and ask me, where do you find that in the Bible and I’m able to

point them directly to the verses that deal with a particular topic. I remember in

high school, in English class, we held a mock debate. And of course, every goal of a

good-faith debate is not to knock the opposition down and to gloat. But it is to

provide a solid enough argument that holds up to all kinds of scrutiny so that theclaims being made are revealed to be irrefutable. Another way to put this is that

the primary objective of every good-faith debate is to arrive at the truth. That in

the end the truth will prevail. Now, in our sinful world, we know that this is not

always how it turns out. Especially when it comes to presentations of the gospel,

not everyone will be won to Christ. But if we know that people’s eternities are at

stake, we are to exhaust all of the resources afforded to us to share the good news

about Jesus. Now Paul wasn’t having a debate here, but he is, as he has in

previous chapters that we’ve looked at, building a case for why Jesus is the

Messiah that was prophesied of old.

Acts 18:5-6

5 When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the

word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. 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.”

So, remember that Paul left Timothy and Silas in Berea, as he journeyed to Athens.

But Paul has since asked them to come to him. So, they join Paul in Corinth. In

verse six, when it says, “they opposed and reviled him,” the “they” here is the

Jews being preached to. They’re hearing Paul, but they don’t like it and what does

Paul do when he makes an attempt to share the gospel and it’s rejected? He

shook out his garments. In previous chapters we’ve seen that Paul has shook off

his sandals. And both of these actions represent the same thing. You had a chance

to accept the message, and so, as long as you reject Christ, judgment will upon

you.

Acts 18:7-8

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. 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.

There’s not much we know about Titius Justus, but that he was most likely a

proselyte. He was not a Jew but was a worshiper of God, very similar to Cornelius

whom we learned about several weeks ago. Titius Justus was most likely a Romancitizen given the name, and his house happened to be right beside the Synagogue.

So, Paul leaves the Synagogue and heads over to the house next door to continue

his teaching and preaching. If Paul is not welcome at the Synagogue, he’s going to

find another place to continue his work of evangelism. It’s very interesting to see

that the ruler of the Synagogue named Crispus was converted along with his

entire household. I am sure that the boldness of Paul’s witness while in the

Synagogue and after, moved him to pursue faith in Jesus even when those around

him did not. And this is the very first instance in Scripture where we see an entire

Jewish family converted to Christianity.

Acts 18:9

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,

Paul has a vision in the night and who speaks to him? The Lord, and the Lord is

who? It’s Jesus. Just as Jesus revealed himself to Paul on the road to Damascus, so

does he now reveal himself to Paul while he is at Corinth. And Jesus tells him, “Do

not be afraid.” What does this imply? That Paul was afraid. He was fearful. And

rightfully so. We’ve seen Paul have his life threatened on multiple occasions.

We’ve seen him beaten and thrown into prison. We’ve seen him ridiculed and

mocked. And he was stoned at Lystra to the point where people thought he was

dead. We can understand why Paul would be afraid. I want you all to understand

on a deeper level that what we read about in the pages of our Bibles are accounts

of real people who really lived. It’s easy for us sometimes to really grasp the

moment because we know what’s going to happen because we can read about it.

But for Paul, he’s living it day by day. As we study and go through the book of Acts,

I want us to not just read about a past event. I want us to put ourselves in the

moment. And the great thing about doing is, is that we can learn and grow from

our understanding of recorded history so we can know how to navigate our

present circumstances. Some people believe that the Bible has no bearing on our

lives today, but I would argue that it most certainly does. It has everything to do

how we go about living our lives. And what we see here is an account of a man

who has been literally and figuratively beat down because of his obedience to

God’s calling on his life.I mention this all the time. The life of a Christian is not an easy one, but it’s a good

one. Are you in here this morning feeling discouraged, burned out, worn down or

fearful? I would guess that most of us in here are feeling that way about

something. And if you aren’t, I’m sure you can recall a moment in your life where

you felt those things. And what I want you all to know is that there is a solution to

this very human emotion of fear and despondency in our lives. It’s not some

inspirational quote that you saw on social media. It’s found in your fridge in the

kitchen. It’s not found in addictions or other places of escape. I saw this quote

somewhere that I’d like to share with you. “The solution to our worry, and our

doubt and our fear is not in the power of positive thinking, but in the power of

Jesus.” Do not be afraid. “Easy for you to say.” Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid.

Jesus is telling Paul in one of his darkest nights, to stay the course and to keep

sharing the gospel. You will be tempted to be silent, but don’t be silent.

Acts 18:10-11

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.

Notice here that Jesus promised Paul that he would not be harmed. This does not

mean that people won’t try to harm him as we will soon see, but that he would

not be harmed and I imagine this would have put Paul’s mind at ease. And we see

that, in contrast to the other cities Paul had been in, he stays in Corinth for an

extended amount of time. And we need to remember that Corinth was a city that

needed to be radically changed by the gospel.

Acts 18:12-13

12 But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on

Paul and brought him before the tribunal, 13 saying, “This man is persuading

people to worship God contrary to the law.”

Gallio was a newly appointed proconsul of Achaia.I remember in school, whenever we had a substitute teacher, there were those of

us who thought we could away with things that we wouldn’t have gotten away

with with our regular teacher. And those of us who thought it was funny to take

part in such mischievous actions, found out real quick that it wasn’t worth it once

the teacher heard about it.

Now a very similar thing happens here in our text. There was a recent change in

Government and Gallio has been the proconsul of Achaia for a short time. And so

the Jews think they can pull a fast one. Because of his perceived lack of

experience, they think they can use him in their efforts to silence Paul. And so

they bring the charges against Paul. “This man is persuading people to worship

God contrary to the law.” And we’ve seen this charge before in other cities. I love

what happens next.

Acts 18:14-16

14 But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were

a matter of wrongdoing or vicious crime, O Jews, I would have reason to accept

your complaint. 15 But since it is a matter of questions about words and names

and your own law, see to it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of these things.” 16

And he drove them from the tribunal.

We’ve seen on multiple occasions those who were brought to trial were the ones

who gave a defense. We saw this with Peter, and Stephen and Paul. But here, as

Paul is about to speak, Gallio steps in and plays an uno reverse card on the Jews

and defends Paul. And this would have angered the Jews.

Acts 18:17

17 And they all seized Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him in front

of the tribunal. But Gallio paid no attention to any of this.

Gallio’s lack of compliance angered them so much that they took the ruler of the

synagogue (not Crispus, but his replacement) Sosthenes and beat him. And we’re

only left to speculate as to why this was. Perhaps Sosthenes was the one trying to

build a case against Paul, but didn’t do a good enough job, so they decided to taketheir anger out on him. It’s quite interesting to read later in 1 Corinthians 1:1 that

Sosthenes, like Crispus before him, eventually became a Christian.

Acts 18:18

18 After this, Paul stayed many days longer and then took leave of the brothers

and set sail for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchreae he had cut

his hair, for he was under a vow.

Many scholars believe that the vow that Paul took was a Nazirite vow. If this was

the case, (this can’t be sustained by Scripture), then it would show the Jews, that

Paul was not rejecting them, even though they rejected him.

Piano to play here.

And the last few verses we will end with today gives a cursory overview of Paul’s

eventual return to Antioch where he was first commissioned.

Acts 18:19-22

19 And they came to Ephesus, and he left them there, but he himself went into

the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. 20 When they asked him to stay for a

longer period, he declined. 21 But on taking leave of them he said, “I will return to

you if God wills,” and he set sail from Ephesus.

22 When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church, and

then went down to Antioch.

This concludes Paul’s second missionary journey. Next week we will begin Paul’s

third missionary journey. At the conclusion of Paul’s second missionary journey,

what has resulted are firmly planted churches in the major cities of Philippi,

Thessalonica, Berea, Athens and Corinth. And the Church continued to grow and

be strengthened.