Paul s Colleagues in Ministry

Transcription

1 Adventures in Acts #25 (7/25/10 & 8/1/10) Bible Bap4st Church, Port Orchard, WA Dr. Al Hughes Paul s Colleagues in Ministry Acts 18 Paul is con/nuing on his second missionary trip, now coming to Corinth. The city of Corinth was a very licen/ous and corrupt city. It was the Sodom / Las Vegas of Paul s day. The reputa/on of the city was so bad that wicked and evil people throughout that region were called Corinthians. Corinth was noted for it s sen- sual worship of Venus consis/ng of fornica/on with male and female temple pros/tutes. There were enemies of the Gospel in every city Paul visited: At Pathos, it was a sorcerer; at An/och it was envy; at Lystra it was pagan worship; at Philippi it was greed; Thessalonica and Berea it was religious jealousy; at Athens it was philoso- phy; at Corinth it was immorality. Paul came to Corinth alone. Up to the /me, Paul always had fellow believers with him. Being alone, he s/ll remained faithful to his calling (v. 4). Your true character is revealed when you are alone. I. Paul The PIONEER church planter (18:1-18). What s involved in plan/ng a local church? A. Co- laborers who are likeminded God adds seven new associates to help Paul s ministry during this /me: 1. Aquila and Priscilla (18:1-3, 26 cf. Rom. 16:3-5; 1 Cor. 16:19). Always men/oned together in Scripture. Husband / wife TEAM. This couple came very close friends and supporters of Paul s minis- try. Their dedica/on to God s work and God s man puts many church members to shame. 2. Justus (18:7). 3. Crispus (18:8; 1 Cor. 1:14). 4. Sosthenes (18:17 cf. 1 Cor. 1:1). 5. Gaius (1 Cor. 1:14 cf. Acts 19:29; Rom. 16:23). 6. Apollos (18:24-28 cf. 1 Cor. 3:5-6; 16:12). B. Cra9 / employment (v. 3). Some/mes a church planter must work a secular job to subsidize his ministry, un/l it can be self- suppor/ng. C. Confronta;onal evangelism (vs. 4-6).

2 2 1. Paul s manner:...every sabbath Paul was a faithful ambassador for Christ taking advantage of his opportuni/es to witness. 2. Paul s method: reasoned persuaded (v. 4 cf. 17:2) The word reasoned speaks of the MIND. The word persuaded speaks of the WILL. Decisions for Christ must be based on sound ra/onal. Both HEAD and HEART are involved. 3. Paul s moral support (v. 5). Arrival of Silas and Timothy. The presence of other believers yields pressure to be bold in tes/fying ( pressed in the spirit compulsion). Cf. Jer. 20:9 Verse 6: When someone opposes the truth, they are really opposing their own best interests They were bringing judgment upon their own heads (cf. 2 Tim. 2:25-26). Paul was clean (cf. Ezek. 3:18-21; Acts 20:26-27). Shi9 in outreach "From henceforth I will go unto the Gen@les" (v. 6 cf. 13:47). God is gradually slacking off from dealing with Israel. God is now breaking off some of the branches of the olive tree (Jews) and grai- ing in the wild branches (Gen/les) (see Rom. 11:13-25). D. Conversions (vs. 7-8). 1. Hearing (v. 8 cf. Rom. 10:17) 2. Believing (v. 8) 3. Bap/sm (v. 8 cf. 1 Cor. 1:14). 4. Note the change in the character of the Corinthian believers (cf. 1 Cor. 6:9-11). E. Comfort of God (vs. 9-10). The pressure of the ministry can wear on a preacher aier a while. God visits Paul to encourage and assure him that his labors are not in vain. 1. Comfort of Peace Be not afraid 2. Command to Preach...speak, and hold not thy peace 3. Certainty of Presence I am with thee 4. Courage of Protec/on...no man shall set on thee to hurt thee 5. Confidence of Produc/on I have much people in this city. ( You re work is paying off!... You re making a dent. NOTE: Be- lieve it or not, there are many Chris/ans who live in Las Vegas.)

3 3 F. Conserve the results (v. 11 cf. John 15:16 I have chosen you, and or- dained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain ) Paul the preacher becomes Paul the teacher. New converts need Bi- ble teaching. This training can require a long period of /me. G. Conflict will arise (vs ). 1. with one accord It is sad the enemies of God oien anain one accord against God s work easier than the church being in one ac- cord doing God s work! (cf. Prov. 11:21). 2. Paul was accused of propaga/ng an illegal religion (v. 13). Slander 3. God oien raises up help from expected places. Gallio, although un- saved, was an impar/al judge. He recognized that Paul had broken no Roman Law (v. 14b). Why bother me with your peny religious disagreements? a. The ques;on (...if it be a QUESTION of words and names, and your law, look ye to it; for I will be no judge of such maners. And he drave them from the judgment seat. Gallio believed in sepa- ra/on of church and state. He threw the case out of court!...ques@on of WORDS It was about words (vs. 5, 11) The Word (John 1:1, 14) ques@on of NAMES It was about names: Moses, Jesus. (v. 5, Acts 4:12; Phil 2:9-10)...ques@on of your law It was about Moses Law (Mt. 5:17). Jesus fulfilled the Law and therefore that law was no longer binding (cf. Col. 2:14-17; Heb. 10:3-12). b. The spite of the Greeks (v. 17). Sosthenes became the chief ruler of the synagogue when Crispus got saved. He was likely the one who lead the Jew s insurrec/on against Paul. But his plan back- fired and the Greeks beat him for was/ng the court s /me over issues that should have been senled outside of the Roman Court. It must have had a profound effect of Sosthenes, for he became a Chris/an himself (cf. 1 Cor. 1:1). Paul leaves Corinth (18:18-23).

4 4 1. Paul s vow (v. 18). For some reason Paul had taken a Nazarite vow, perhaps to help him reach the Jews (1 Cor 9:20). Among other things, this vow involved not cupng his hair. Now the terms of his vow were expired and he cut his hair before going to the temple at Jerusalem (cf. Acts 22:17; Num. 6:5-18). NOTE: Under grace, if you want to take a vow, you can. If you don t, that s OK too. 2. Paul visits Ephesus with Priscilla and Aquila (vs ). 3. Paul promised to return to Ephesus if God willed (v. 21). 4. Priscilla and Aquila remain at Ephesus. 5. Paul returned to An/och and then began his third missionary trip (vs ). Verses cover the distance of about 1,500 miles [See Map]. II. Apollos A PREACHER with a teachable spirit (18:24-28). The DISCIPLESHIP OF APOLLOS by Aquila and Priscilla.

5 5 A. Apollos was in need of DISCIPLESHIP (vs ). 1. Apollos was a Greek Jew of the dispersion ( Apollos is a Greek name). 2. He was from Alexandria (philosophy). 3. He was eloquent Good speaker 4. He was a Bible scholar (O.T. wri/ngs). Rare combina;on: Eloquence and mighty in the Scriptures. Most men are eloquent in preaching, but weak in their knowledge of the Bible. Others know their Bibles like the back of their hand, but will bore you to tears when they preach. 5. He was instructed in the way of the Lord (in an O.T. context). 6. He was fervent in spirit. 7. He was diligent in teaching. 8. His understanding of Scripture was incomplete. He only had par/al revela/on (vs ). Apollos was limited to the informa/on he had. He only knew Genesis 1 - Manhew 3. [He may have been unsaved.] Apollos needed to be brought up to date concerning Paul s min- istry. WHAT APOLLOS DIDN T KNOW Apollos s ministry consisted exclusively of the ministry of John the Bap/st. He was preaching the kingdom of heaven gospel and prac/c- ing water bap/sm for the same reason John had taught and preached it. ( John did bap@ze in the wilderness, and preach the bap@sm of repentance for the remission of sins. Mark 1:4). Now, what was it Apollos did not know? 1. First of all, he didn t know John the Bap;st s ministry and bap- ;sm was fulfilled (cf. John 1:29-33). 2. He didn t know that Paul was God s new Apostle, and that the dispensa;on of grace was commired to him. Again, he didn t know that Jews and Gen/les were being bap/zed by the Spirit into one body, called the church. This truth was not made known from the founda/on of the world. (Ephesians 3:9). Neither did he know the gospel message that had been given exclusively to Paul.

6 6 (See Gala/ans 1:11-12). Apollos didn t know that he could now eat catish without guilt. 3. He didn t know that the wri;ngs of Paul would become the body of doctrine for the new church God was building. 9. He was teachable (v. 26). B. Priscilla and Aquila were capable DISCIPLERS (vs. 26). C. Apollos became a valuable DISCIPLE himself (vs ). He put into prac/ce what he learned from Aquila and Priscilla and became a co- laborer at the new church in Corinth (18:27-19:1 cf. 1 Cor. 1:12; 3:5-6; 16:12).