Ministering at Corinth
by Rev. Paul Howden
August 31, 2008
The Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity
Acts 18:1-17
Charles Spurgeon built a large church on the outskirts of London. This was around the 1880s. One Sunday he was preaching to a packed out crowd and someone yelled, “Fire!” People panicked, and the church erupted in pandemonium. The stampede out the exits ended up crushing seven. The fact that there was no fire made the tragedy a senseless one. Spurgeon witnessed those seven deaths. It caused him to fall into deep depression that afflicted him for the remainder of his life. Hence, one of the greatest preachers of all time was frequently dispirited and at times utterly immersed in despair. History tells us that some of the best saints pass through deep discouragement, and even Jesus felt desolate in the garden of Gethsemane, begging his disciples to stay up and pray with Him. Paul too. On this 15th Sun. after Trinity we’ll study Acts 18, where Paul’s discouragement is suggested (Acts 18:1).
When the apostle Paul arrived at Corinth in the spring of AD 51, he was probably discouraged. Acts 18:1 says, “After these things Paul departed from Athens and went to Corinth.” He journeyed solo. On the 53-mile trail down the coast from Athens to Corinth he mulled over the events of his second missionary journey. What had recently taken place? At the city of Lystra he was stoned and left for dead. At Philippi he was flogged. He and Silas were thrown into Prison. He had run out of money, and he was run out of town. At every city the gospel was often embraced, but just as often it was opposed and rejected. He must have thought: “I am abused, hounded from city to city, stoned, beaten, imprisoned, and broke. I can do without this. Perhaps I’ll return to Jerusalem and quit this running around to plant churches. I’m tired and discouraged.”
Once he arrived in Corinth that feeling would have intensified. Corinth was an imposing city, the third largest in the world. It was located on an isthmus, a skinny piece of land between two seas, which meant that merchant ships from all over stopped there. It was like the Panama Canal. Ships docked in the one harbor and slaves pulled those boats on wooden rails the three miles over land to the other harbor. Bums, renegades, pirates, and the riff-raff of the empire ended up in Corinth.
This made it a highly immoral and debauched city. Combine the gay bath houses of San Francisco, the marijuana cafes of Amsterdam, the carnival parades of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the prostitution of Manila, Philippines, and you get an idea of what Corinth might have resembled. The prospect of trying to plant a church in such a place was daunting. Later, Paul wrote, “I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling,” (1 Cor. 2:3) and for good reason. Reading Acts 18:5-6.
And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. And when they opposed themselves, and blasphemed, he shook his raiment, and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean; from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles.
As soon as Paul tried to witness to the Jews, they opposed him and blasphemed. So much so that he shook out his garments in a flamboyant gesture, and vowed to go to the Gentiles. The Lord saw his low spirits and did things to help him. In Acts chapter 18 we have several instances of God’s encouragement, which did much to enable the apostle to persevere in Corinth eighteen months with an effective ministry. How did God help Paul out? Let’s look into it. First, the Lord gave him some fellowship. Reading Acts 18:2-4.
And found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome:) and came unto them. And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation they were tentmakers. And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.
Paul knew he needed partners, and he sought them out. Aquilla and Priscilla had been kicked out of Rome so they came to Corinth. Claudius, the Emperor had run all of the Jews out of Rome, even the Christian Jews. This married couple, Aquilla and his wife Priscilla, were tent-makers. Paul was out of money and needed a job to eat, so somehow, as Providence would have it, Paul met these two, Mr. and Mrs. Aquilla and Priscilla, and they invited Paul to share their home, and become partners with them in business and in ministry. This would have been an excellent moment to sell tents. Some of you watched the Olympic Games from China. In ancient times Corinth hosted the Isthmian games. Besides races in athletics and on horses, the Isthmian Games offered competition in music and rhetoric. People came from all over the Empire to participate in, or watch the gala. The spring of AD 51 was when Paul was first in Corinth, and this is when the games were held. The entrepreneurs, Paul, Aquilla and Priscilla, would have been selling their tents, and making a profit. Certainly this new opportunity encouraged Paul. Few things encourage a lonely traveler as much as welcoming him or her into a loving Christian family. Paul, Aquilla, and Priscilla worked together. They lived together in the same house. They evangelized together. We all need the encouragement and the mutual fellowship of the church, the family of God. There is no way you can be an effective disciple of Jesus by yourself and alone. It won’t happen. Not even Paul could do it for long. Christian work is supposed to be a team effort, where you receive and give encouragement.
When you see somebody who seems to be doing a good work but who is perhaps carrying on without a great deal of encouragement, do what you can to encourage or help that person. There is a sense in which anyone who is doing anything worthwhile is in a lonely position. Seek out such people. Speak a good word.
And be courageous. You are a soldier in God’s army, the Church militant, and He wants you to be brave in His warfare. Physical disease is contagious, and spiritual disease is contagious too. It has occurred in military life that cowardice, men who become cowardly at the front and attempt to desert, get executed. The commanders will sometimes order deserters to be shot. Not because they lack compassion or because they are cruel people, but because cowardice is contagious. It spreads. It is an infectious spiritual disease. One of the good things is that there are good spiritual diseases as well. Courage is equally contagious. When you are around courageous people, you too feel better able to face some of the challenges you confront. [Insight from Rabbi Daniel Lapin.] That’s what happened to Paul. The courage of Aquilla and Priscilla bolstered the courage of Paul, and his renewed courage gave fresh courage to Aquilla and Priscilla. And the three of them spoke and reasoned in the synagogues concerning the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Something else happened that encouraged Paul. His colleagues in ministry, Silas and Timothy, returned from their assignments. Acts 18:5 says, “Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia.” When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia they brought help from the Macedonian churches. In 2 Corinthians Paul says, “The brothers who came from Macedonia supplied what I needed.” In other words, they brought funds. The churches at Philippi, Thessalonica, and perhaps at Berea must have said, “Paul is out there on his own now. I wonder how he is getting on. What if he doesn’t have enough money to live on; what if he can’t even feed himself? He’ll have to go to work if that’s the case, and that will take time away from his preaching. Let’s take up a collection and have Silas and Timothy deliver it to him.” So they sent Paul their offerings. Now Paul no longer had to work at tent-making. Their financial help released him to do what he was particularly called by God to do. [Insight from J. M. Boice.]
We should say something about tent-making. Tent-making is an option for doing missionary labor. Christians who move to a foreign country and work at a paid job with the hope that it will open doors for Christian ministry are called tent-makers. I was in South America for three years working for the Peace Corps. They paid me to build latrines and install water pumps, but during my free time and on the weekends I could be a sort of missionary. I heard of a guy who teaches English in China. He is a tent-maker. There is an American Christian in Russia who teaches at the university. The only way to get into some countries is tent-making. They forbid missionaries. Young people should look for opportunities to live overseas as tent-makers. Follow the example of the Apostle Paul.
We mentioned already that the Jews at the synagogue opposed Paul and blasphemed. Well, God may have closed that door, but He opened another one next door. How did that happen? God’s Holy Spirit brought to faith a man named Titus Justus, and Titus Justus lived right next door to the synagogue. He had a spacious house, and volunteered to make it available for worship services with Paul teaching, preaching and ministering the sacraments. Let’s read Acts 18:7-8.
And he departed thence, and entered into a certain man's house, named Justus, one that worshipped God, whose house joined hard to the synagogue. And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized.
Not only did the Lord help Paul to plant a church right next door to the synagogue, but even the ruler of the synagogue, Crispus, came to faith. “Then Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his household. And many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized” (Acts 18:8). What a shot of hope this was to Paul and his ministry. Crispus and his family got baptized, and many others too.
Things move quickly in this chapter, and there are a lot of odd-sounding names. The Jews got upset about their leader going over to the Christian Church. They seized Paul and hauled him in front of Gallio, the proconsul of the province. They wanted Paul tarred and feathered, and run out of town on a rail. Guess who led this effort? Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue after Crispus converted to Christianity. Sosthenes led the Jews to go before Gallio, and ask him to harm Paul and run him off. Let’s read Acts 18:12-17.
And when Gallio was the deputy of Achaia, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul, and brought him to the judgment seat, Saying, This fellow persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law. And when Paul was now about to open his mouth, Gallio said unto the Jews, If it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O ye Jews, reason would that I should bear with you: But if it be a question of words and names, and of your law, look ye to it; for I will be no judge of such matters. And he drave them from the judgment seat. Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat. And Gallio cared for none of those things.
The irony is this: the very thing Sosthenes wanted to do to Paul, the Greek people did to him. Sosthenes got a taste of his own medicine. They flogged him publicly, the ruler of the synagogue. Of course, this was a bad thing. Gallio should have stopped the Greek mob from hurting Sosthenes. This was probably a case of anti-Semitism. Do we see Sosthenes anymore after this? Yes. We see him in 1 Corinthians 1:1. Listen to the greeting: “Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, to the church of God which is at Corinth.” In other words, Sosthenes converted, too! He repented of his sin, and put his faith in Jesus Christ, and became one of Paul’s lieutenants in the faith. What a turn of events! Two rulers of the Corinthian synagogue surrendered their lives to Jesus: first Crispus; then Sosthenes.
Our Heavenly Father encouraged Paul in a variety of ways. The greatest encouragement was the Lord’s vision to Paul. We see it in Acts 18:9-11.
Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace: For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city. And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.
“Keep talking Paul. Don’t be afraid. I am with you, and nobody will harm you.” That vision and message from the Lord Jesus was a relief. Paul had been beaten up on prior occasions. To have that fear lifted off his shoulders was gratifying. The Lord said, “I have many people in this city.” This means that God could see into the future because He had determined the future. This is predestination. God was looking ahead and notifying Paul that by preaching the Word, he would bring many people to faith in Jesus Christ. “I have many people in this city. They’re not saved yet, but they will be, if you stay and preach to them.” The truth of God’s election is always balanced with human responsibility. The Bible teaches both truths.
This vision to Paul persuaded him to stay in Corinth for a year and a half. God helped him through the pain and frustration. The Lord was with him. A peasant living in the woods composed a piece of music called “Winter Sunshine.” In this piece, against a subdued and even somber background, there stood out melodious patches of beauty and joy. When asked about the inspiration behind this piece, he replied that he “had always held that the happiest man on the face of the earth is the man who can make most of the sunshine that breaks up and brightens the winter.” Are you going through a hard, cold, dark winter? For a Christian the bursts of sunshine that God gives you in the midst of your deepest crises are evidences that He is with you, that He will see you through. Such truths provide a release from the grip of gloom, and you are liberated to give yourself to celebration. Only the grasp of the eternal God can help you to be truly happy in the midst of trouble. And if you can have happiness in the winter, you are a truly happy person.” [Borrowed from Ajith Fernando, The NIV Application Commentary, p. 500.] All life is tinged by pain and frustration. Try to see the sunshine in the dark winters of your life. The Lord was with Paul; He will be with you, and He will get you through.
Paul’s success in Corinth should spur us on to evangelize Scranton. The rampant disregard for moral standards is common in our city, too. Once the Corinthian church was established and Paul had moved on to other cities, he wrote letters to the Corinthian believers. We have two of those epistles, and they are called 1 and 2 Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians 6:9, Paul describes what kind of people the Corinthians believers had been before they came to faith in the Lord. Let’s read 1 Cor. 6:9-11.
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
What a rough group. The Corinthian parish was full of ex-thieves, ex-fornicators, ex-sodomites, ex-alcoholics, ex-everything. By the Holy Spirit working through the preaching of God’s Word, and the celebration of the sacraments, God had blessed the evangelistic and church planting endeavors of Paul, Silas, Timothy, and others. God gave the city of Corinth the light of Gospel truth. He began the transformational work of redeeming that city. God has work for us to do here in Scranton, and for that very reason we should be encouraged and stay on and do it to the best of our ability. We have the Scranton Rescue Mission where we can reach the lost. We can evangelize our friends and neighbors. We can invite people to church. We may get discouraged and frightened but with the Lord on our side, and church people helping us, we can be courageous and encouraged. Our job is to keep on keeping on, knowing that God is with us.