ACTS "A Tale of Three Cities"- Acts 17

Brett Meador: When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. Paul's preaching to the Jews. Notice that he's not preaching to the Gentiles. Mark that. But he was preaching to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah, or was the Christ as it says in the King James. So what do you think the Jews did when he starts preaching that Jesus is the Christ?
Guest (Male): Paul's missionary journeys continued in Acts Chapter 18 as he shares the gospel, strengthening believers in cities like Corinth, Ephesus, and Antioch. Along the way, he builds relationships with key figures in the early church: Priscilla, Aquila, and Apollos, yet faced fierce opposition in the synagogue. Sharing verse by verse through today's word, here's Pastor Brett Meador.
Brett Meador: Acts Chapter 18. We've been seeing Paul visit different cities, and every city's different. I think one of the stark contrasts was for me when I went to Paris for a 10-hour layover, traveling with a few friends to Burkina Faso in Western Africa, going to do some pastors' conferences out in the bush. Pretty exciting to do that, but at that time I'd never been to Paris. So we had the 10-hour layover, so we did all kinds of things. We ran up to the top of the Eiffel Tower, we went through the Louvre, but we then got in our Air France flight to West Africa and it was like 57 degrees there in Paris, which was nice. But when we got to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, as soon as that airplane door opened, hot, just hot, hot, hot. About 120 degrees every day we were there. But it was quite an AB comparison. The beauty of Paris and all that, but the people, I'm just going to be honest with you, they were not very nice to us, especially a big white American guy in Paris. They just didn't like me, I think, which I don't blame them. But in Burkina Faso, the people were the sweetest people I've met around the world. They're just the kindest and the church brothers and sisters there were incredible and I just fell in love with the people. But the place was hard. It was just dusty and hot and barren. Starving, disease, all kinds of problems there in Burkina. But it had its own beauty, and it was because I think the people. Well, Paul's got that same problem. He's been in Athens, the beautiful city, but there was also an ugliness to the people in that they were high and mighty and they thought they were smarter than everybody else, and they were resistant to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Well, we're going to add a couple more cities to our study as Paul continues his second missionary journey right now. As he's been to Thessalonica, Berea, and Athens, and now from Athens, we're going to pick it up where we left off. Acts 18:1 says, "After these things Paul departed from Athens and came to Corinth." In Paul's day, Corinth was a commercial center, two harbors. It had long been a rival to its neighbor city, Athens. Athens and Corinth were rivals. It was a city of remarkable reputation for loose living and especially sexual immorality. In classical Greek, to act like a Corinthian meant to practice fornication. A Corinthian companion meant a prostitute. This sexual immorality was permitted under the widely popular worship of Aphrodite, also known as Venus. And in 146 BC, Corinth rebelled against Rome and was brutally destroyed by the Roman armies. It lay in ruin for 100 years after it rebelled against Rome. 100 years later, Julius Caesar rebuilt this city. So right about 46 BC, they rebuilt the city and made it better than new. So by the time of Christ, by the time of Paul, it was in its glory once again, reestablished its former glory as a center for trade, but also for immoral worship, immorality of every sort. One ancient writer described Corinth as a town where none but the tough could survive. So it was very Hellenistic, but it was also a bad place to be because of its sin and debauchery. But Athens, by the way, was more of a place of worshipping of the mind, intellectually, philosophically. But Corinth is a worship of the body, not as much the mind, where it was sexual pleasure, sexual impurity. But Paul's going to have a different reception from the Corinthians than what he had at Athens. So let's take a look back to verse two. So Paul, when he went there to Corinth, he 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. So Paul here in the first few verses, we meet the dynamic duo, this amazing couple of the Bible. Maybe one of the more impressive couples. They always are named together, husband and wife, Aquila and Priscilla. They were at this time for sure Christians. Some believe it's possible that Paul led them both to Jesus as they worked together as tentmakers. The word tentmaker, by the way, if you look it up in the Greek, it's an interesting word. It's skenopoios, which means a tentmaker or one that works with leather. Maybe they did both. Maybe they worked with stitching of canvas and tents as well as leather and stuff like that. But Paul, he goes to Corinth and he literally gets a job making tents or working with leather and he finds Aquila and Priscilla ministering together who the Lord was using mightily. They were volunteers. They were people that had a job that helped Paul with the ministry, which is such a cool thing. I love that. We see that at Athey Creek. We have a staff here, our staff is actually small compared to the size of our church. The reason why we have that is because Athey Creek has so many Aquilas and Priscillas. We have so many volunteer people who take on heavy-duty responsibilities. It's an amazing thing, our volunteer teams. I'm so thankful for them. Paul was paid most of the time to do the work that he was doing and supported by other churches. But in this case, he did a season of tentmaking. And there's a reason, he even tells us why he did that for a season instead of receiving pay for the work he was doing. He went and resorted to tentmaking instead of receiving funds to do the work of the ministry. So I am thankful for that. By the way, when I started Athey Creek, I moved from Southern Oregon and I didn't want to be a burden on our beginning church, some financial burden as we were just starting. So I came up here and interviewed for jobs. I had a teaching credential, I could teach school and had a little background in some athletic-type stuff. So I got hired locally before we even moved up. I came up and interviewed, got hired at a school here to be the teacher and also the athletic director for that little middle school. And I was ready to roll. I was going to do that because I liked the idea of not being that burden. But before I even really got things going here at Athey Creek, we had a small group of leaders in our church. They were the beginning elders at that time. They said, "Brett, we just feel it's on our heart that you should not take that job and we want you to be full-time committed to planting this church." And I had to pray about that. I already had my mind made up. I was going to go teach and do school and do the ministry at the same time. But we prayed about it and we decided to go with it, which was a leap of faith. We didn't have money for that. I still had three kids and had to take care of them and we weren't sure if it was going to work out. I wasn't sure what was going to happen. But the Lord has been faithful from day one here at Athey Creek. The Lord's been faithful and provided for my family beautifully and amazingly and to see the staff that we have now and just the way the Lord provides. But this is one area where it comes up where why does Paul go from receiving money from Jerusalem and from other churches to keep his ministry going when suddenly he starts working for the tentmaking thing? There's a reason here, we'll get into that in a second. But as we get to that in a second, why did Aquila and Priscilla move, it seems, from Rome to be here in this story? What happened that they would go to Corinth? Well, there's actually a time in history. Verse two tells us here because Claudius had commanded the Jews to depart from Rome. The Roman historian Suetonius wrote that Claudius banished the Jews from Rome because there was a sect of Jews indulging in constant riots at the instigation of Chrestus. That's an ancient inscription they found of why they drove the Jews but nobody knows who Chrestus is. There have been many attempts to explain who Chrestus was and that these Jews were causing an uprising about Chrestus. But likely a solution that Suetonius refers to is that Chrestus is really speaking of the Christ, Jesus. So there were Jews being stirred up in Rome and there were constant riots because of this Chrestus. But writing some 70 years after the event, it had the name somewhat mixed up. That's what Suetonius says. So it seems that the expulsion might have had to do with when they kicked all the Jews out of Rome, it might have had to do with the word of Jesus Christ reaching Rome. Some say this is interesting because it's before Paul even went to Rome and some argue that Rome had already had word of Jesus even before Paul gets there. We always think in our mind's eye Paul was the guy who first brought Jesus to Rome. Maybe he was. But there are possibilities where and one of those things that's interesting is Aquila and Priscilla were one of those who were kicked out of Rome by this Roman Claudius. And so some would argue that Aquila and Priscilla were Christians before they went to Corinth, which is an interesting idea. But nonetheless, for sure Aquila and Priscilla are amazing Christian people. Whether they accepted Christ in Rome earlier than Paul or by the preaching of Paul while they were making tents in their little tent shop, we don't know for sure. But those are just some interesting things. I love that kind of stuff. I'm sorry if I'm boring you with history, but I think it's really interesting stuff. Well, the chronology is often tricky in this matter, but it seems that this expulsion of the Jews of Rome occurred around AD 49. So that's an interesting time period when you think about Paul and his ministry. But Paul stayed with Aquila and Priscilla, helped them make tents, and he would only preach, it says here, in the synagogues during the weekends. In fact, Chapter 18:3, when it says, "And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them and wrought, for by their occupation they were tentmakers." ESV says, "And because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked, for they were also tentmakers by trade." So why was Paul here working in tentmaking? We don't see him do this in any of the other cities he visits. What's different about the Corinthian church? Well, would you keep your finger here and flip over to 2nd Corinthians Chapter 11? Just turn to the right, maybe an eighth of an inch in your New Testament, and you'll get to 1st and 2nd Corinthians. It's 2nd Corinthians Chapter 11. Paul actually, in sort of a mouthful of words, tells us why he goes to tentmaking. You have to put the pieces together here, which makes it interesting. So Paul says in 2nd Corinthians Chapter 11, we'll start in verse nine, "And when I was present with you, Corinthian church, and wanted or was needy, needing food and money, I was chargeable to no man. For that which was lacking to me, the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied. And in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and so will I keep myself. As the truth of Christ is in me, no man shall stop me of this boasting in the regions of Achaia." Now Achaia is another word for the Corinthian people. Verse 11: "Wherefore, or why do I not take payment from you? Because I love you not? God knows. But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion, that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we. For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed, disguised is the literal word there, as the ministers of righteousness whose end shall be according to their works." What's going on here? Well, Paul's saying, "I have not taken one penny from you," he said. "And I won't ever." That's what he's saying there when he said, "I've not taken money and I never will." But he said, "I've worked." He worked as a tentmaker to pay his bills and anything else he needed then was supplied by Macedonia. Now who were the ones in Macedonia that were probably helping fund Paul's journeys? The people of Philippi or Macedonia, where he was up in Philippi. Remember he was up there? Paul came down first and then these guys came down, Silas and the guys came down and probably brought money to support Paul. So that's why he says here in verse nine, he says, "For that which was lacking to me, the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied." So he wasn't taking money from them. Why? Because there were a bunch of false teachers that were claiming to be apostles but were not. They were rascals, sort of masquerading and they were asking for money. This is what's going on. They go around masquerading as Christians, giving Christians a bad name, preachers, apostles. In this time, Paul said, "I don't want to appear like them at all." So and not only that, the Corinthians had a tendency to say, "Oh, you're just wanting money from us." So they were a rascally church themselves. And so Paul said, "I'm not going to be chargeable to you. I'm not going to ask for money from you guys because you guys have misconstrued that, as well as the false apostles that aren't real, but they're from Satan." All that to say, I think it's cool that Paul had a tentmaking skill to go back on. I think every pastor should have that, a tentmaking skill is what we call that in ministry terms. Paul was able to say, "I can go to tentmaking if I have to. I can do other things." Sometimes I think pastors that go to seminary and just have a religious degree, they've got no other skills. Who knows? Things could get in the way. I could see a time where persecution happens in America where the church will no longer be able to have a big staff or paid pastors and stuff like that. There could be a day where literally we'll have to fend for ourselves and man, I'd want all of us to be able to fall back and try to be a part of the solution and not just taking in that way. So there is something to that. If you're thinking of being in the ministry, I think it's good to have a tentmaking skill. I love how Paul can employ that when he wants to. That's pretty cool. But Paul, no doubt an intellectual giant, he gets to busy sewing up leather. I think that's cool so the people of Corinth couldn't accuse him for being there for the money and what have you. Kind of a big deal if you ask me. Well, back to Acts Chapter 18. We pick it up there in verse five. It says, "When Silas and Timothy were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit and testified to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ." Now this is controversial. We're already in a controversy and you may say, "I don't see any controversy here." Well, the translation from the Greek is a little hard, but in the King James, it says Paul was the idea is he's in first gear until Silas and Timothy were there and then he started to get into it a little more. Like suddenly because they were there, it's like he got empowered to go and really preach because he was only doing it for a while. And some people say that could be the case, some scholars. But others believe that part of this was that Paul was tentmaking so he could only preach on the Sabbath and then when Silas and Timothy showed up, they brought money from Macedonia. Remember the scripture we just read in 2nd Corinthians 11? We see how that actually worked out. We saw how they brought some money. Now interesting that, why does Paul suddenly kick it into next gear? Probably because those two guys bring the money and he's no longer working full-time as a tentmaker, he's back to it. And that's why it says he goes and pressed into the spirit, testifies to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. So this is cool. Other translations make it a little easier to understand. I think it's the NIV, they get the win on this translation if you ask me. Verse five says, "When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah." That's Acts 18:5 in the New International Version. So that's the idea. So Paul's unable to go full-time until Silas and Timothy get there, which is cool. But all that to say, what is he preaching? He's preaching to the Jews. Notice that he's not preaching to the Gentiles, mark that. But he was preaching to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah or was the Christ, as it says in the King James. So what do you think the Jews did when he starts preaching that Jesus is the Christ? Well, it says in verse six, "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.'" Paul saying, "From now on, I'm not going to talk to the Jews anymore." Now question: Should Paul, this is the controversy I was talking about earlier, should Paul have been talking to the Jews at all? Some say he could preach to whoever he wants to, I get that. But there is an argument that's pretty legit that says Paul was supposed to be the minister to the Gentiles. Let me remind you a little bit about that. Who was Paul supposed to be preaching to? Well, Acts Chapter 13, let's take a look at that one, verse 46. It says, this is several chapters ago, "Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold and said, 'It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you. But seeing you put it from you, the Jews, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.'" And then look at verse 47. This is interesting: "For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, 'I have set thee, Paul, to be a light for the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.'" It's almost like Paul's admitting God gave him a directive saying, "Paul, you're not, I know you're a Jew's Jew, you're a Pharisee of Pharisees, you have a heart for the Jewish people, but that's not who you're supposed to be ministering to. You're supposed to be all about the Gentiles." And because you're going to do that, Paul, you're going to reach the gospel to the ends of the world, even Portland, Oregon eventually, it would make it to that far, which is amazing and that was Paul's calling. So here's a question just to think about. I don't know if I know the answer. Would Paul's ministry have been a little easier, not so many hard times and stonings and all the troubles he had? Letting down in a basket, remember that we talked about that? If he just did what he was supposed to do, preach to the Gentiles instead of sneaking into some synagogue and trying to preach to the Jews again? I mean, that's something you could make an argument. Like maybe his way was so hard because he really wasn't doing exactly what the Lord wanted him to do. There's a whole argument about that I think is interesting. But I'll leave that with you, whether you think Paul should have just stuck with the Gentiles or did what he did where he really would go to the Jews over and over again. And every time he'd go to the Jews, he'd get beat up, stoned, let down in a basket, whipped, he'd end up with all kinds of trouble. But in this case here in Acts 18, what did the Jews do when he started preaching to them in their synagogue? Verse six says they opposed themselves and blasphemed. It means basically they opposed Paul and Silas and blasphemed what they were saying. Now this is, by the way, an indirect declaration of the deity of Jesus. Did you see that? This is a lot of people miss this kind of stuff, but I want you to see it. What do you mean indirect declaration of the deity of Jesus? Verse five says that he was pronouncing, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ, and then they opposed themselves and blasphemed. That means to speak against God. Most scholars think this is a declaration of the deity of Christ because someone can only really blaspheme God, and Jesus was the topic of discussion there. So there's an interesting thing there. Now what did Paul do? Interesting cultural thing that we don't do, I don't think we do it, but he shook his garment. Now why did they do that? If you look it up, he was in the synagogue and they had a lot of weird, even in the Middle East today, if they take off the shoe and start throwing it at you, that's the biggest insult you could ever have. Or even sitting, if you're in some of those countries and you're sitting and you cross your leg and the bottom of your foot is facing someone, that is the worst insult you could ever do to someone. There's weird things like that. In ancient times, to shake off your garments, it was like if Paul went into the synagogue and they rejected him and blasphemed, and so the idea is you figuratively shake off the dust from the synagogue, any dirt that got on you from the synagogue, shake it off and get out of there. And it was a way of saying, "I'm done with this." One commentary said it's a dramatic way of expressing his rejection of their rejection. Paul was certainly capable of a dramatic and vivid demonstrations of his message. So like literally shake it off and just get going. That's what Paul did there.
Guest (Male): Pastor Brett Meador pausing in our verse-by-verse account of Acts Chapter 18, drawing from the example of Paul faithfully proclaiming Christ without compromise, trusting God with the results. And I invite you to stay right there as Pastor Brett will join me here in just a moment. But first, Today's Word is the radio ministry of Athey Creek Church in the Portland, Oregon area, where Pastor Brett Meador is the senior pastor. Our purpose is that these studies will help transform your daily routine with clear, systematic Bible teaching. You can find out more by going to TodaysWordRadio.com. All right, Pastor Brett has joined me. America has seen a lot of turmoil in the last couple of years, and I know it's caused a lot of people to search for answers. Brett, what have you seen as a pastor, and what encouragement can you give to that person who is searching for hope?
Brett Meador: Well, I would say be careful where you search because I think a lot of us have already figured out you're not going to find the hope in politics or in money, or our circumstances even getting better or more comfortable. I would just say the first place everybody should look is in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus said in John 14:27, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives." And then he says, "Let not your heart be troubled, and don't let it be afraid." That's the kind of hope that doesn't rise and fall with the headlines. My encouragement would be just don't ignore the longing that's in your heart. God is inviting you to know him and you'll find forgiveness and you discover a peace that passes understanding, it lasts. As a church, we've seen people respond to that message in powerful ways, particularly in the last several months and lives are changed, families are helped and healed, hearts are filled with hope, and it's a hope that really can't be shaken. So I would just point everyone, you got to find that hope in Jesus Christ.
Guest (Male): Right. And Pastor Brett, if someone listening right now is saying, "I definitely want that hope," what's their next step?
Brett Meador: Well, first and foremost, Jesus said you must be born again, which is a term we use "born again." We were born in sin, but Jesus said you can be born again. And how do you do that? It's really what we as Christians call being saved. And so you got to be saved. That means just repent and say, "I know I'm a sinner." Acknowledge your sin before God. And then accept him. And you do that by Romans 10:9 and 10: "Confess with your mouth, believe in your heart that Jesus died on the cross, rose again," and if you believe that and confess that, it says you will be saved. Romans 10:9 and 10. Then the next step after that, now you're saved, now you're forgiven, you're going to heaven, then I would find a good solid Bible teaching church. If you need help with that, you can go to TodaysWordRadio.com, our website where you can connect with us and we'll help you get connected to a good church.
Guest (Male): Yes, we sure will. Thank you, Pastor Brett. And again, that website is TodaysWordRadio.com. That's TodaysWordRadio.com. And that's all the time we have. Next time, Pastor Brett will show us how the Lord strengthens his people, builds his church, and accomplishes his purpose through faithful believers. Today's Word with Pastor Brett Meador is an outreach of Athey Creek Church in West Linn, Oregon.