Acts - Lesson 35

Today we start with the first verse of the twenty-first chapter of Acts. Paul is on his way to Jerusalem even though many prophecies have made it clear that it will not be a happy journey. Paul is going to Jerusalem because he is obeying God and the act is a testimony to the early church.  

Acts 21:1-3 … And when we had parted from them and set sail, we came by a straight course to Cos, and the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara. And having found a ship crossing to Phoenicia, we went aboard and set sail. When we had come in sight of Cyprus, leaving it on the left we sailed to Syria and landed at Tyre, for there the ship was to unload its cargo.

They were running along the west edge of Asia Minor and sailing almost directly to Syria. Passengers seem to have been mostly an afterthought. We are the ones with vacations and a travel industry. Paul and his companions were piled on after the cargo and you were going were the cargo was going. However, finally, Paul is headed back to Jerusalem.

Acts 21:4-6 … And having sought out the disciples, we stayed there for seven days. And through the Spirit they were telling Paul not to go on to Jerusalem. When our days there were ended, we departed and went on our journey, and they all, with wives and children, accompanied us until we were outside the city. And kneeling down on the beach, we prayed and said farewell to one another. Then we went on board the ship, and they returned home.

It is important to realize that Paul was not being disobedient to the Holy Spirit. He knew that God was leading him to Jerusalem. He had heard enough prophecies to realize that he was not going to Jerusalem for a Sunday School picnic. However, for the Body of Christ, this was a testimony that they needed to see and hear about.

It has been a while now but in 1955 Jim Elliot, Pete Fleming, Ed McCully, Nate Saint, and Roger Youderian went to reach the Hauorani Tribe and were all killed by the tribe. They went in spite of the danger and the book written by Elisabeth Elliot took its title (Through Gates of Splendor) from the hymn “We Rest on Thee” that they sung before they left. They sang:

   We rest on Thee, our Shield and our Defender.
   Thine is the battle, Thine shall be the praise;
   When passing through the gates of pearly splendor,
   Victors, we rest with Thee, through endless days.

In 2000 years we’ve seen that things don’t always go well according to our standards. God is sovereign and, in the Book of Acts, He is going to use Paul’s imprisonment to reach many people. In Ecuador, he used the deaths of those 5 missionaries to begin a work in the lives of those tribe members. It is very hard not to second guess God. The best medicine against second guessing God is to remember that He is God.

Acts 21:7-16 … When we had finished the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais, and we greeted the brothers and stayed with them for one day. On the next day we departed and came to Caesarea, and we entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him. He had four unmarried daughters, who prophesied. While we were staying for many days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. And coming to us, he took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘This is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’ ” When we heard this, we and the people there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” And since he would not be persuaded, we ceased and said, “Let the will of the Lord be done.”After these days we got ready and went up to Jerusalem. And some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us, bringing us to the house of Mnason of Cyprus, an early disciple, with whom we should lodge.

Philip was one of the original seven deacons and he was living and ministering here on the coast. Agabus was also mentioned earlier (Acts 11:28) as a prophet in the Church. Here he travels to give a specific prophecy. This is a very strong warning for Paul regarding the Jews in Jerusalem. Was Paul being stubborn? He was accompanying an offering from the non-Jewish churches for the church in Jerusalem. He was concerned about a fracture between ethnically Jewish and ethnically Gentile Christians. James Montgomery Boice is convinced that Paul is about to make a mistake. In fact, Boice is convinced that Paul is just being stubborn in returning to Jerusalem. I think we need to give Paul the benefit of the doubt but I think Paul is about to make a mistake. One characteristic of Scripture is that often mistakes are reported without commentary. Also, as we discussed earlier, just because something goes wrong in our eyes doesn’t mean that it is out of control of our Sovereign God. So what I’m indicating is that there is some ambiguity in this portion of Scripture. We don’t want to be too dogmatic from this historical text but we also need to remember what the didactic or teaching portions of Scripture have taught us.

Acts 21:17-21 … When we had come to Jerusalem, the brothers received us gladly. On the following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present. After greeting them, he related one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. And when they heard it, they glorified God. And they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed. They are all zealous for the law, and they have been told about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or walk according to our customs.

Well things start well. Paul gave a report from the mission field and presumably delivered the offerings for the Christians in Jerusalem from the new churches. Then things start to take a bad turn. The leaders of the Church in Jerusalem, including the apostles, tell Paul that he has an image problem with the ethnic Jews who are Christians. Was Paul telling folks on the mission field not to circumcise or stay kosher? Well he was telling them that they were not obligated to circumcise and stay kosher in order to be righteous. So the accusation was a half truth with enough truth that it wasn’t a quick answer when it was given as an accusation. So they are Paul’s brothers and they want to find a solution.   

Acts 21:22-25 … What then is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. Do therefore what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow; take these men and purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses, so that they may shave their heads. Thus all will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you yourself also live in observance of the law. But as for the Gentiles who have believed, we have sent a letter with our judgment that they should abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality.”

So here is the solution proposed by the leaders of the Church. They suggest that Paul participate in a ritual as these four men finish a Nazirite vow. They tell Paul to do this so that everyone will know there is nothing in what they have been told about Paul. But there is something! Paul knows that Christ was the end of the Law for righteousness sake. And then this statement of the Eldership on the Gentiles is a restatement of what produced at the Church Council in Jerusalem and it shows that they have a two-tier system of Christianity. This is bad. These are the leaders and they still haven’t grasp the work of Jesus on the Cross in relation to the ritual law of Moses.

Acts 21:26 … Then Paul took the men, and the next day he purified himself along with them and went into the temple, giving notice when the days of purification would be fulfilled and the offering presented for each one of them.

Paul, who called out Peter for essentially the same sin, now agrees to ritual purification and schedules the animal offerings for each man. Three animals are offered for each man. I can rationalize the Peace Offering. It is worship and the priest gets some and you get some and some parts are offered to God in fellowship. I can make excuses for that one. But the burnt offering is for atonement and the sin offering is for unintentional sins. Paul can’t be part of that. Neither should the Jerusalem Christians but they had not learned the sin in offering any other offering for sin. Paul is on a razor edge here (especially appropriate for the Nazirites). His intention is sinful. If he does what he intends to do, given the revelation given to Paul, then he will be in sin.

Acts 21:30 … When the seven days were almost completed, the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him, crying out, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against the people and the law and this place. Moreover, he even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.” For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple. Then all the city was stirred up, and the people ran together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and at once the gates were shut.

God stopped Paul from going through with the animal sacrifice. At the last moment the situation blew up in Paul’s face. I don’t know what Paul was thinking. I suppose he was wishing he could be thrown in prison for doing the right thing and not the wrong thing. God was merciful to prevent the sacrifice. In part I think God was patient with Paul as God was being patient with the church in Jerusalem.

Hebrews 10:1-4 and 10:12-14 … For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. … But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

Eventually the Church heard the Holy Spirit say that animal sacrifice did not perfect or even remove sins. It pointed forward to Christ who by a single offering has justified us for all time as we are being sanctified. The ethnically Jewish Christians couldn’t hear the prophecy of Christ that every stone of the Temple would be cast down. The clock was ticking on the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. It is a sad time for those who were ethnically Israel. Paul loved the nation but the Temple in Jerusalem was no place for a Christian to be seeking forgiveness or a sacrifice for sin.

Acts 21:31-36 … And as they were seeking to kill him, word came to the tribune of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion. He at once took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them. And when they saw the tribune and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. Then the tribune came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. He inquired who he was and what he had done. Some in the crowd were shouting one thing, some another. And as he could not learn the facts because of the uproar, he ordered him to be brought into the barracks. And when he came to the steps, he was actually carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the crowd, for the mob of the people followed, crying out, “Away with him!”

The Romans just don’t like anyone exercising the means of violence except the Romans. The tribune was over the centurions so he commanded hundreds or even thousands depending on the size of the “cohort”. People were accustomed to behaving when they saw the Romans so they stopped beating Paul but nobody could get the story straight on what the problem was. So the tribune “extracted” Paul in chains and took him to the barracks and actually had to carry Paul to get him through the crowd. Now Paul could have gotten to this point simply by preaching the Gospel. He didn’t need to try animal sacrifice, see God mercifully prevent his plans, and then get saved by the Romans from the wild mob. But he’ll get a chance to preach after the arrest this time. 

Acts 21:37-40 … As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the tribune, “May I say something to you?” And he said, “Do you know Greek? Are you not the Egyptian, then, who recently stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand men of the Assassins out into the wilderness?” Paul replied, “I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no obscure city. I beg you, permit me to speak to the people.” And when he had given him permission, Paul, standing on the steps, motioned with his hand to the people. And when there was a great hush, he addressed them in the Hebrew language, saying:

Next time (in 3 weeks) we will continue and hear Paul’s testimony repeated for this group in Jerusalem. The tribune isn’t even clear on who he arrested at this point. Paul asked for permission to speak. I suspect the tribune thought that might calm the crowd down when they found out Paul was a Jew. However, it wasn’t going to work that way.

Acts - Lesson 34

We are in the twentieth chapter of the Book of Acts and at that 29^th verse. Paul is delivering a charge to the eldership of Ephesus and has had them come down to Miletus as he was heading to Jerusalem. They are told to pay attention to the doctrinal “whole counsel of God” that Paul preached. As we discussed last week, each of us has that responsibility in some way. Either as a new Christian to desire the sincere milk of the Word or as a maturing Christian to move on into the meatier things of the Gospel. Of course this also stresses how critical our responsibilities are to be able to share sound doctrine with those around us. We are each called to serve the Body of Christ, a body purchased by His blood, according to our gifts. The collection of spiritual gifts each of us has will vary but we are each called to serve.

Acts 20:29-32 … I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears. And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

This was a prophetic statement. The doctrinal attacks did come against the church in Ephesus. Men spoke twisted things and they spoke them with passion. To be alert to a danger or error you must be able to identify dangers and errors. What can make it hard is that you must be able to be alert when someone makes a passionate defense of error. In other words, you must have an accurate understanding of the Gospel to defend the Gospel.

Passion for Christ and a thorough knowledge of Scripture must go together. In our age we seem to have trouble keeping them together. Knowledge of Scripture apart from a living passion for Christ will make a Pharisee out of a man and end in cold legalism. A passion for Christ without knowledge ends in idolatry as we form Jesus to fit our minds idea of Jesus. Eventually the passion we have is for our own conception of what we want in Christ and not what Scripture tells us about Christ. We can have an effeminate or macho or outlaw Jesus idol. Paul combined that passion in admonishing with tears with grounding the Ephesians in the word of His grace.

In John 5:39 & 40, Jesus said, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.” When he said that, first of all, he was talking to Pharisees. Even in the context of the Pharisees, Jesus isn’t telling them to stop searching the Scriptures but He is saying to hear what Scripture says and to see Christ in the Scriptures from Genesis to Malachi.

For Christians, a pure passion for Christ comes from Scripture via the Holy Spirit. True knowledge of the person and work of Christ comes from Scripture and not by personal reflection or even by spiritual experience. Paul didn’t lack either passion or knowledge in Christ and he said, “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.” We have many folks preaching “other gospels” that we know are not really gospels at all.

Acts 20:33-35 … I coveted no one’s silver or gold or apparel. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me. In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”

This is another part of the charge for the elders. They are supposed to work hard. Paul was a tent maker. He worked in a team both as a tent maker and as a minister. He spent many hours in ministry working hard. There is currently excitement in Russia over a picture of the Russian Orthodox Patriarch named Kirill. In the photo on the website of the Russian Orthodox Church they posted a picture of Kirill meeting with the Justice Minister and the Patriarch seems to be wearing a $30,000 watch. After some Russians noticed the watch the watch disappeared from the photo … however, the reflection of the watch in the shiny table top remained. At this point they are claiming the edit was unauthorized and that it was an inexpensive Russian watch, or a gift, or a hoax. I’m sure they’ll settle on one explanation soon. It may have been a copy. But when we talk about living simply and even – as the Russian Orthodox Church has recently – austerely then we need to exercise our conscience before God and allow the Holy Spirit to lead.

This is what we, as Southern Baptists, have stated in our Faith and Message about stewardship:

God is the source of all blessings, temporal and spiritual; all that we have and are we owe to Him. Christians have a spiritual debtorship to the whole world, a holy trusteeship in the gospel, and a binding stewardship in their possessions. They are therefore under obligation to serve Him with their time, talents, and material possessions; and should recognize all these as entrusted to them to use for the glory of God and for helping others. According to the Scriptures, Christians should contribute of their means cheerfully, regularly, systematically, proportionately, and liberally for the advancement of the Redeemer's cause on earth (Baptist Faith and Message 2000).

Paul didn’t just cover one aspect of their life as he planted a church in Ephesus. He didn’t even just cover one topic in this brief time of encouragement to these brothers. He encouraged both a righteous doctrine and a righteous lifestyle.

Acts 20:36-38 … And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. And there was much weeping on the part of all; they embraced Paul and kissed him, being sorrowful most of all because of the word he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And they accompanied him to the ship.

What God had revealed was prison. God hadn’t revealed that Paul would definitely never come back. However, it was a reasonable assumption given what God had revealed. Paul was a great teacher in public and in private. He was through and careful to teach all that God had reveal to him and he was faithful to check and see that it was communicated. Catechizing is out of style right now but you can do it for yourself. Spurgeon has a tremendous Baptist Catechism and it is available on line: http://www.spurgeon.org/catechis.htm#Q1

In 1659 Richard Baxter wrote The Reformed Pastor as an exposition of how to be like Paul and especially how to fulfill the charge of Acts 20:28. Catechism was an important part of Baxter’s work.

However, Baxter also copied Paul in his deep connection with those churches that he planted. Paul was not pretending to care deeply about these folks. He really did consider them his joy and crown. They knew it and had a deep love for Paul too. Paul’s tears were real because he really loved the Ephesian church. Francis Schaeffer knew how important it was to separate from unbelievers. However, he also said that, If we separate, it must be with tears. And if we speak truth that hurts, it must be with tears.” He was getting at how important it was to actually have relationship and not to stand aloof from those you fellowship with. If God calls you to leave a church fellowship it should be with tears. If God calls you to speak hard biblical truth to someone – regardless of their accepting it or rejecting it – it should be with tears.

We are so consumer oriented that for many of us choosing a church fellowship is like choosing a grocery store and leaving Publix for Kroger isn’t the same thing as leaving a church fellowship. Biblical truth is more than information. It is vital and life changing and to see someone teaching false doctrine should weigh heavy and bring us tears. Cool consumerism is not the attitude to bring through a church door but it is the most common attitude brought into worship in our culture.

The wolves did come in after Paul left but it looks like Paul also had additional opportunities for contact after some time in a Roman Prison.

When writing 1^st Corinthians, Paul says in Chapter 15 verse 32 “What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.’”

As a result of what was likely another missionary journey (perhaps more than one) after Paul’s imprisonment in Rome and before his re-imprisonment and martyrdom under Nero, Paul writes to Timothy and says:

1Timothy 1:3-7 … As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.

They were tempted to seek something other than the grace in which we stand. Just in this verse we see that Timothy had to defend the church in Ephesus against; 1) myths which would be a natural residue of Artemis worship in the formerly gentile population, 2) genealogies which may have been related to the formerly Jewish population and, 3) legalism which likely came from both Gentile and Jewish camps.

Paul’s letter to the Ephesians would also place a barricade against these errors. Even a brief portion of the epistle tells the Ephesians that:

Ephesians 1:13-23 … In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

This also stands against mythology and against genealogy as being relevant to the salvation of the saints. Of course the problem of legalism in Ephesians is rebuked directly for our teaching, reproof, correction, and for instruction in righteousness. Paul says to the Ephesians: 

Ephesians 2:1-7 … And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

You were spiritually dead and not just critically ill. You were a sinner who was sinning because you wanted to sin and you were by nature an enemy of God. However, those wonderful words for any day but especially for Easter Sunday are “But God” and they are so good to hear. He was rich in mercy, He loved us with a great love, when we were spiritually dead then He made us alive. It is by unmerited favor and undeserved blessing that we are saved. We brought nothing to the table and apart from His grace we wouldn’t have gone to the table.

What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Amen! He is risen and we are raised up with Him.

Acts - Lesson 33

Last week we talked about the riot in Acts 19 of the silversmiths and all those that got swept up in the confusion. The riot was really a good sign of the growth of the Church. The silversmiths were finding that their business was impacted and they didn’t like that. About 70 years later in Bithynia the Roman governor Pliny wrote to the Emperor Trajan asking what he should do about the Christians. Pliny couldn’t find anything really wrong with the Christians but people were not going to shrines anymore so business was off. Pliny said the butchers were having the most trouble because they Christians wouldn’t buy meat sacrificed to idols. Trajan just said to go easy and prosecute on specific charges. Of course there were eventually some periods of terrible persecution.

The key question is, “How many people worship Artemis of the Ephesians?” I suspect that no one does but Jesus is worshiped by millions. The change came by a focus on the Gospel with evangelism and discipleship.

Acts 20:1-6 … After the uproar ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging them, he said farewell and departed for Macedonia. When he had gone through those regions and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece. There he spent three months, and when a plot was made against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia. Sopater the Berean, son of Pyrrhus, accompanied him; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy; and the Asians, Tychicus and Trophimus. These went on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas, but we sailed away from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days we came to them at Troas, where we stayed for seven days.

Paul goes north to Europe again and preaches in Macedonia. We would therefore expect him to minister in Neapolis, Philippi, Amphipolis, Apollonia, Thessolonica, and Berea. After this he went south to Greece and in particular probably to Corinth. His plans changed because of persecution. He was at the Aegean Sea and could have headed back across to a port near Jerusalem but that wasn’t what God had in mind. Instead Paul reverses direction and walks hundreds of miles north to Europe again.

We will also see a shift in focus from Luke. He is beginning to finish up the scroll. Remember that the length of the book is limited by the size of the scroll. Luke spends more time on what Paul said, more stress on the physical resurrection as evidence of the Gospel, and a greater effort to keep the Jewish and Gentile portions of the Church fused rather than fractured.

Eventually, after encouraging the Church in Southern Europe, Paul starts south from Philippi and heads on to Troas. The sense of urgency that Paul demonstrates in his travel under difficult conditions and expresses in the epistles was well founded. Paul was being spent by the Holy Spirit on these cities all around the Aegean Sea. Paul also ministered in Troas on the way back to Jerusalem.

Acts 20:7-8 … On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight. There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered.

Notice how early we began to worship on Sunday, the first day of the week. They were meeting on Sunday to have communion. It was a very long Sunday evening service but it was urgent because Paul didn’t know when or if he would be back to disciple them further. The next passage explains why we don’t have seats in the windows.

Acts 20:9-12 … And a young man named Eutychus, sitting at the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer. And being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. But Paul went down and bent over him, and taking him in his arms, said, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.” And when Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed. And they took the youth away alive, and were not a little comforted.

So the young man was dead and Paul prayed and he was raised from the dead and Paul went back up and kept teaching. He taught all night and in the middle of the teaching – about midnight – they had a death and resurrection. Paul’s sense of purpose kept him focused on establishing the Church even when something as remarkable as a death and resurrection occurred in the middle of discipling the Church.

Acts 20:13-16 … But going ahead to the ship, we set sail for Assos, intending to take Paul aboard there, for so he had arranged, intending himself to go by land. And when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and went to Mitylene. And sailing from there we came the following day opposite Chios; the next day we touched at Samos; and the day after that we went to Miletus. For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so that he might not have to spend time in Asia, for he was hastening to be at Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost.

I am guessing but I suppose that Paul went overland to check on other Christians and then met the boat in Assos. They then started working their way south towards Jerusalem. Paul needs to be back in Jerusalem to talk with the other Apostles and bring them up to date on the ministry to the Gentiles. However, he sails past Ephesus but has the elders come down to Miletus for a brief time of ministry.

Acts 20:17-21 … Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him. And when they came to him, he said to them: “You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews; how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

This message for the Ephesian leaders has a bit of the character found in Paul’s epistles. Paul’s testimony was his faithfulness under fire. In the face of spiritual opposition Paul was faithful and this forms the basis of his last words to this Church. His living testimony was literally the group standing before him. Paul’s humility, courage under fire, preaching repentance from sin and faith in Christ were why they were standing before him listening. This was the basis of his authority over them.

Acts 20:22-28 … And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

Here is the core problem for Paul. He is probably done with "in person" ministry to this group. He is sure that the Holy Spirit is leading toward some loss of his freedom. His prayer now is to finish his course well and to complete the work that God gave him in spreading the Gospel of Grace. The Gospel of the Grace of God is being stressed to the Ephesians. That is the core of the epistle to this church too. Paul is heading into imprisonment and affliction and they need to listen carefully.

Acts 20:25-28 … And now, behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again. Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

This is their charge as leaders in Ephesus. They are told to pay careful attention to their own walk before God and to all the flock. This is a statement meaning that they must pay particular attention to the doctrinal “whole counsel of God” that Paul preached. The Holy Spirit put them in their positions of leadership to care for the church of God in Ephesus that Christ purchased with His blood. Can you imagine the gravity of this charge coming from the Apostle Paul? Paul tells them the Holy Spirit selected them to be in charge of what Christ purchased with His blood and that Paul have declared the whole counsel of God to them in order to equip them. We each have a similar charge to family and our local church. We have the whole counsel of God – hopefully it is not covered with dust – in our possession. We are each called to serve the Body of Christ, a body purchased by His blood, according to our gifts.

Acts - Lesson 32

Last week we talked about the way in which God identified a spiritual problem in Ephesus and worked to purify the Church in that city. God sent revival and after the years Paul put in teaching there he saw the local Church well grounded in Christ.

Paul was constantly in submission to the Holy Spirit and that actually made it easier for him to be redirected contrary to his expectations. His first objective was to preach a message of the effects of sin, the need for personal repentance, and the sufficiency of Christ for our forgiveness for sin. His second objective was to mature local body of Christ so that they would reach out to the area surrounding them. His third objective was to plant another body of Christ in another city. The first two objectives were met in Ephesus and at this point Paul was thinking of moving on. The book of Ephesians was likely written about 5 years after this point in Acts. The strength of the body there caused Paul to pray great things for them that we can also pray for ourselves and others.

Ephesians 1:16-23 … I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

So we pray to 1) have wisdom and knowledge of Him, 2) know our hope and heritage, and 3) know His omnipotence. It is a really good prayer like many other prayers found in Scripture. However, don’t miss the principal that you really need these things in your life. Wisdom and knowledge of Him are not just handy to have they are your life and breath. You need your hope in Him and confidence in His power to rightly live each day. Paul was confident enough with the Ephesians position that he planned to move on.

Acts 19:21-22 … Now after these events Paul resolved in the Spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia and go to Jerusalem, saying, “After I have been there, I must also see Rome.” And having sent into Macedonia two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia for a while.

Paul was planning to head back up to Macedonia to check on the Church in Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea (at least) and then come south again to Achaia where he established the Church at Corinth. Then he planned on going to Jerusalem. God would rearrange things a little but that was his plan. He used an “advance team” and sent Timothy and Erastus into Macedonia to prepare for his visit while he continued his ministry in Ephesus.

Acts 19:23-27 … About that time there arose no little disturbance concerning the Way. For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen. These he gathered together, with the workmen in similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth. And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, saying that gods made with hands are not gods. And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing, and that she may even be deposed from her magnificence, she whom all Asia and the world worship.”

Artemis is the Greek name and Diana is the Roman name of this false goddess. Money, politics, and religion mixed in Ephesus produced a volatile situation. In stark contrast to the demonstration of God’s power in the events preceding this meeting of silversmiths, we now see silversmiths attempting to defend their goddess because the false goddess can’t defend itself.

What good is a God who needs humans to defend it? This reminded me of our brother called Boniface who was from Wessex England but was trying to evangelize the Germans in the early 700s AD. He wasn’t getting far evangelizing the Germans because they already had a god named Thor and they even had a special sacred tree that was Thor’s special oak tree. So Boniface found an ax and told them that their god (Thor or Jupiter in a Latinized version) should strike him dead if he is able while he cuts down the tree they believed was Thor’s favorite oak tree. It is said by an early biographer that Boniface started to cut it and a great wind blew the tree over. At that point the people converted to Christianity and Boniface built a church from the wood. There is still a church there and a statue of Boniface standing on a tree stump. Boniface is part of “the riches of His (Christ’s) glorious inheritance in the saints.” The reason there is a brass Boniface standing on a stump in Germany is because Boniface was meek toward God and submitted to the Holy Spirit. It looked bold to the Germans but really Boniface had a fear of God that made his fear of man wither and die. The reason we know who Boniface was more than 1000 years later is because God raised him up to be a very visible part of Christ’s glorious inheritance in the saints.

In Ephesus they were not open to the One True God. The silversmiths were right to be afraid for their false goddess who had no power. Here is the text of an early Christian dedication of a Cross to replace the image of Artemis, “Destroying the delusive image of the demon Artemis, Demeas has erected this symbol of Truth, the God that drives away idols, and the Cross of priests, deathless and victorious sign of Christ." The cult of Artemis or Diana was very strong in Ephesus and the temple was considered one of the wonders of the world. God was picking a fight over the place of this cult in the religious life of Ephesus. The Ephesians’ silversmith guild never considered the larger issues that result from worshiping a manufactured statue they needed to make and defend. 

Acts 19:28-34 … When they heard this they were enraged and were crying out, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” So the city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed together into the theater, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul’s companions in travel. But when Paul wished to go in among the crowd, the disciples would not let him. And even some of the Asiarchs, who were friends of his, sent to him and were urging him not to venture into the theater. Now some cried out one thing, some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together. Some of the crowd prompted Alexander, whom the Jews had put forward. And Alexander, motioning with his hand, wanted to make a defense to the crowd. But when they recognized that he was a Jew, for about two hours they all cried out with one voice, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

Here we go with another riot. Remember that Ephesus is in Turkey and so Gaius and Aristarchus were from Southern Europe (Macedonian). Being foreigners, and associated with Paul, they got swept up into the mob. Paul had to be restrained and kept out of the crowd. Even Paul’s friends in power (Asiarchs) told him to stay out of the action because things were so chaotic. Many didn’t even knowing why they were there. When a Jew named Alexander tried to speak he was shouted down because he was a Jew. Poor Alexander didn’t even get a chance to disown Paul and the other Christians. Notice that this went on for hours like a pep rally for a goddess who couldn’t even lift a finger.

Acts 19:35-36 … And when the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, “Men of Ephesus, who is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple keeper of the great Artemis, and of the sacred stone that fell from the sky? Seeing then that these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash.

Here is a civil servant earning his keep. However, he isn’t fully informed. The false goddess Artemis is under attack and they are also worshipping as sacred a meteor of some sort. This false goddess is in fact, at this point, being dethroned by Almighty God. The silversmiths were essentially correct in some of their charges. His argument that “everyone knows who we are and what we’ve got” works to settle down the crowd but it is a hollow statement for a false god. To paraphrase Paul as he spoke in Athens, God didn’t destroy you for your sins in the past but today God commands you to repent.

Acts 19:37-41 … For you have brought these men here who are neither sacrilegious nor blasphemers of our goddess. If therefore Demetrius and the craftsmen with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are open, and there are proconsuls. Let them bring charges against one another. But if you seek anything further, it shall be settled in the regular assembly. For we really are in danger of being charged with rioting today, since there is no cause that we can give to justify this commotion.” And when he had said these things, he dismissed the assembly.

This town clerk was bright enough to know that under the Roman law (of the day) no crime had been committed. The historian Josephus tells us that crimes of this sort were often charged against Jews and Christians. This clerk points them to the courts and reminds them how upset the Romans get about violence that they didn’t instigate. If the Ephesians were charged with rioting then the beatings would once again continue until moral improved.

We can look at these events in Ephesus through the lens of the Fifth Commandment. In the Fifth Commandment God tells us to, “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.” (Exodus 20:12). We tend to think that command only applies to us when we are home or before the death of our parents. Why would God place a commandment that doesn’t apply to you in the top 10 for all mankind?

We must look back and honor our parents in the faith. All Christians are adopted (Ephesians 1:5). If my natural dad was wrong about something then I must obey my Father in heaven. To know and honor all those believers who are our family is part of our honoring the 5^th Commandment. In addition, we must be as accurate and precise as we are able in handling the Scriptures that our Father in heaven spoke into being to obey the 5^th Commandment. The error we see in the Ephesians was the elevation of ungodly human traditions in the face of godly revelation. This went on both inside and outside the Church.

We find the 5^th Commandment to be double edged because tradition is always judged by truth. In the process of seeking to shape our minds to the truth of Scripture we can stumble on what are called “love lines” or “lines of loyalty”. It may be our cultural heritage, religious tradition, or family life that we must finally bring under Christ as Lord of our lives. They are really prejudices that we bring with us into Christianity. The Roman Empire produced a climate that resulted in salvations of folks with bad cultural heritage, bad religious traditions, and bad family lives. However, as adopted children of God, the early Christians honored their earthly parents while at the same time honoring God the Father and those called into the Church before them.

Each of us is commanded to “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15).” Paul encourages us to do this by paying attention to the traditions of the Church (1 Corinthians 11:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:15 & 3:6) while at the same time leaving worldly (Colossians 2:8) and religious (Galatians 1:14) traditions that are ungodly. We have 2000 years of spiritual parents in the faith. They preached the Gospel and demonstrated discipleship for us. Thankfully and joyfully, obeying the 5^th Commandment is much more than honoring our earthly parents.

Acts - Lesson 31

Paul stayed in Ephesus for years teaching Jews and Gentiles the Gospel. Paul’s struggle was to give them a foundation that would stand in the hard times to come.

Acts 19:8-10 … And he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the Way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus. This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.

This was typical of the other cities that he worked in as well. Some people became stubborn and Paul moved the Church in Ephesus out of the synagogue into the hall of Tyrannus. This place is lost in history but some old manuscripts say Paul taught in the afternoon from 11 to 4 each day. I think the main reason that seems like a longtime to be in study is because we are not accustomed to thinking deeply about the Gospel or the errors that creep into our thinking. As we read Paul’s epistles to the churches we find many of the same errors that creep into the Church in our day. We are weak in discipleship because of the individualism and relativism of the culture (nihilism too) that we absorb from outside the Church. In requires effort to keep yourself from falling into this sort of worldliness.

Acts 19:11-12 … And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them.

Paul wasn’t apparently encouraging this because the Ephesians had a pagan history and tended to look for superstitious and magical solutions to their problems. However, God honored this for a time. These were not little handkerchiefs and doilies that Paul laid out and prayed over. These were his work bandanas and work aprons that were taken and put on those who were sick or demon possessed.  People tend to be naturally syncretistic. What I mean by that is people tend to add religious practices to their existing practices without real repentance. God couldn’t let this continue indefinitely because true repentance and surrender to the Lordship of Christ under the power of the Holy Spirit is required. So to continue in this line of thought … Luke tells us about the Ephesians’ experience with the “Ghost Busters”.

Acts 19:13-16 … Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

You can clearly see the syncretism here and an empirical approach to spiritual matters. We are not allowed to take these views of our Holy God. God was in sovereign control of all these events and was disciplining the Ephesians away from their superstitions and magic. The sons of Sceva decided to try the name of Jesus without any real knowledge of Jesus. This was empiricism. The core of empiricism is the question, “Does it work?” and if it does great and if it doesn’t then move on to the next thing. God was using these events to distinguish what was true from what was false. He did a similar thing with the Samaritans by removing Simon Magus from his position of authority as the Church grew in Samaria. In Ephesus, God makes it clear that being the son of a high priest did not give you authority but that true power did reside in the name of Jesus and that even Paul’s name was recognized. So the experiment blew up in their faces and it was a very high profile failure. God was establishing what was true in opposition to what was false.

Acts 19:17-20 … And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.

This was exactly what needed to happen. The high profile beating that the Sons of Sceva took worked to further Church purity. The fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom, was increased. The name of Jesus was praised and awe grew for the Gospel. The believers were convicted of syncretism and repented openly. This entire process moved through the odd use of Paul’s work towels and aprons, Sceva’s sons experimentation with Jesus’ name, and the conviction of the evil in magic to produce holiness in the Church in Ephesus. This was exactly what they needed and this was God’s grace in action for the believers. God knows what the real problem

Acts - Lesson 30

Last week we ended at the end of the 2^nd missionary journey of Paul in Acts 18:22 but Paul’s time at home only lasts about ½ of a verse in Luke’s narrative.  

Acts:18:22 … When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church, and then went down to Antioch.

Paul lands at the sea port of Caesarea and goes up to Jerusalem (“he went up and greeted the church”) and then goes home to Antioch in Syria for a time of rest.

Acts 18:23 … After spending some time there, he departed and went from one place to the next through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

This is the beginning of the third missionary journey and the third time that Paul ministered to the disciples in Galatia and Phrygia. I do not think we can overstate the importance of the essential work of Paul in the lives of these new Christians. The next few centuries were going to be tough. Communicating the Gospel of Grace was going to be difficult. Paul was right to be worried. History shows the attacks from within and persecutions from without that these early believers faced. Paul was doing the work of a shepherd in preparing the Church to survive.

It appears that one of the reasons that Luke tells us very little about what Paul did between the 2^nd and 3^rd journeys was because he wanted space for telling us about Ephesus and the work the Holy Spirit did there.

Acts 18:24-26 … Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures. 25 He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. 26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.

Luke introduces us to Apollos. Apollos was eloquent, knowledgeable, and had a passion for God but he didn’t understand the atonement and by extension he didn’t understand Christian Baptism. I’ll say more about baptism and what makes it unique in relation to John’s baptism in a minute.  It seems from the context that Apollos knew that John was the forerunner of the Messiah. Apollos knew what the Old Testament taught about the Messiah and taught it well. However, Apollos didn’t understand that the Messiah, Jesus, had come and already died for the Church. Apollos knew almost everything he needed to know except that salvation was complete.

Apollos was a single guy from Alexandria. He would have been highly educated so it is fair to say he was an intellectual and he was highly trained in speaking and argumentation. Argumentation in his day wasn’t just a fight. It was a presentation of ideas in a logical way to establish the truth.

About 500 years ago there was a young guy called Little Bilney who was a monk who was short, had very little education, and wasn’t a dynamic speaker. No one thought much of him really. However, Bilney was a believer. Not all monks were. He really admired another monk who was educated and a dynamic speaker. Bilney thought that if this monk was truly saved then the Gospel would be spread in the reformation in England. But Bilney was nobody. So when the great dynamic unsaved monk was serving as a priest, Bilney asked him to hear his confession. It was a request that had to be honored. So they went into the confessional and Bilney confessed the Gospel to him. Bilney said he was a sinner with no ability to save himself. He confessed that Jesus had died in his place. He confessed that his sins were forgiven and that the righteousness of Christ was counted as Bilney’s righteousness. That was the first time the educated and dynamic monk heard the Gospel. He got saved that day and that was an important day for the English Reformation and for most of us who are Protestants with some English blood in us. The monk who was saved that day was Hugh Latimer. He became a tremendous leader in the Reformation and eventually died a martyr’s death with Nicholas Ridley shortly after making the famous statement, “Be brave, Master Ridley, and play the man. We shall this day, by the grace of God, light such a candle in England as, I trust, shall never be put out.” It wasn’t put out. It has burned brighter at some times than at others but it hasn’t been put out. Bilney, the Mr. Nobody, changed the course of history.

Pricilla and Aquila played a role like Bilney. They helped Paul when he needed a place to stay and a way to make a living. The corrected what was lacking in the doctrine of Apollos and prepared Apollos for his place in the Church.

Acts 18:27-28 … And when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus.

The familiarity of Apollos with the Scriptures made him a great asset in establishing and building up the Church. Pricilla and Aquila were divinely appointed to prepare and send Apollos into the mission field. Apollos, under the leading of the Holy Spirit, begins to help Paul by heading to Southern Greece (Achaia) to minister in Corinth before he had even met Paul.

Acts 19:1-7 … And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John’s baptism.” And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. There were about twelve men in all.

John’s baptism was pointed at Israel. That was what made it so offensive to the Pharisee’s. It was typical to require Gentiles to be baptized in purification rituals but John called Israel to repent and be washed in preparation for the Messiah. It is a sad thing to be stuck on John’s baptism and to miss the Messiah. There is actually still a religious group in that position. They are Gnostic and the religion is called Mandaeism. They are not at all interested in the Messiah. They miss the atonement because they reject the atonement. The men that Paul ministered to accepted the atonement and became Christians.

Remember that back in Acts 8 the Samaritans didn’t get saved initially because they were trying to add Christianity to the Gnostic religion made central by Simon Magus. They had even been baptized in Jesus name but Peter and John had to visit Samaria and remove their hero Simon Magus before the Church could grow there.

In Ephesus it wasn’t Gnosticism but simple ignorance. However, the ignorance was a fatal ignorance because they missed the atonement represented by baptism. I want to go over the Scriptures that teach about water as a symbol of the wrath of God so that we’ll have a deeper appreciation of the picture of the atonement and of our testimony in baptism.

1)    Genesis 6-8; Noah takes 7 people through the flood by grace (8 people total).

2)    Exodus 14; Moses takes Israel through the sea by grace

3)    Jonah; Jonah is taken through the sea by grace in a fish

a.    ἰχθύς or  ΙΧΘΥΣ

b.    Ἰησοῦς – Jesus;  Χριστός – Christ; θεός – God; υἱός – Son; σωτήρ – Savior

4)    Matthew 8:23-27, 14:25-33; Jesus in His perfection cannot be touched by the sea; He is our peace when faced with our sin. We rest in the storm with Him in the boat. We kept our eyes on Him to walk across the sea.

5)    Matthew 8:32; Where did the Gadarenes’ pigs go? Into the sea.

6)    Speaking of Noah, Peter writes in 1 Peter 3:21-22; Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.

7)    Mark 10:38b-39 … Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized,

8)    Jesus says in Luke 12:50 I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished!

9)    Paul writes in Romans 6:4-5 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

10) When Jesus told John the Baptist to baptize Him then Jesus was declaring His purpose on earth. We are saved because in Christ we pass through the sea of God’s wrath for our sins. The penalty for our sins is paid. The righteousness of Christ is received by us as a result of Grace. It is an underserved blessing from beginning to end.

11)  Our water baptism is a public testimony that we were baptized in Christ 2000 years ago. As Peter says, we appeal to God for “at onement” saying that our conscience is clear because of the work of Christ and His resurrection proves the Sacrifice is complete (Revelation 4:6, a placid sea and 21:1 no sea at all).

So Paul needed to explain these ideas to the Ephesians who didn’t comprehend the glory of the atonement accomplished in the Cross. Paul stayed in Ephesus for years teaching Jews and Gentiles the Gospel.

Acts - Lesson 29

Athens had peaked about 450 BC and had been conquered by the Romans in 146 BC but they were still an intellectual and cultural center when Paul visited basking in the glow of what they had been in the good old days. The Epicurean and Stoic philosophies were about 300 years old. These were mature systems of philosophical thought that both worked to give men peace of mind.

Epicureans were materialists and denied superstition and divine intervention. They taught that the best life was lived free of pain seeking pleasure but with moderation. They were not hedonists in the modern sense because they sought moderation. Peace of mind was want they wanted and they sought it in that way. Being tranquil, without fear, and without pain was considered to be the highest form of happiness.

Stoics thought emotions that were uncontained resulted in bad decisions. If you attained an earthly perfection in self control and courage then it would mean that you would never have these sorts of emotions. Showing that your belief and will was consistent with your actions was a way of life. You acted in the manner that you truly believed. 

Paul was addressing some folks that were very well established and would continue to influence thought for a long time to come. The Platonists were an especially bad influence on the early Church after the death of the Apostles because they moved Christians away from fundamental teachings of the Old Testament and the Apostles into a metaphysical philosophy that looked down on what we call reality.

When Paul was accused of being a “babbler” they were accusing him of a blending of traditions. He was patching things together in their eyes. If they were being fair then it was because he was presenting what they knew of Judaism along with key Christian concepts. Paul had a very smart but very lost group to minister to in these guys. They saw peace of mind as a great good but really didn’t have a means of achieving a durable peace of mind.

Acts 17:22-26 … So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,

He makes contact with them by pointing out their desire for religious service. He even finds an altar that gives him a way to make a cultural contact. These statements about the omniscience and omnipotence of God were a big deal because they didn’t typically conceive of God as being the most perfect being. It would cast the emperor worship into question. His declaration of God’s sovereignty was close to radical and would have rocked the worlds of these guys under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Notice also that he points out that God is active in the world and not distant from it. That is not a common thought for the Greeks either. These ideas would have also been heard by Platonists and been counter to the way they thought. The Platonists would eventually have some of their philosophy leak back into the Church and not in a good way. Paul is stepping on toes as God the Holy Spirit leads him.   

Acts 17:27-31 … that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for “‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

I’ve heard people say that Paul made a mistake and didn’t preach well in Athens. I don’t really see how they could come to that conclusion. He was reaching a culture by the power of the Holy Spirit that had essentially no Judeo-Christian link. He establishes the soveriengty and nature of God, uses their own ancient writings (Epimenides, Cleanthes, and Aratus), and brings them the message to repent and believe in the savior before judgment comes. He tells them that their judgment is at the door and it will be judgment in righteousness. God is holy and the Greeks would need to absorb that to understand God. I don’t see how he could have done better from a purely cross-cultural statement of belief. Paul then waits to see if the Holy Spirit will have mercy on their souls. That is all anyone could do. This was a dark confused place. Luke seems to be a little irritated when he characterizes them as spending all their time hearing or telling something new. It is a bit like today. A society that is exceptionally proud and basking in their history is a hard society to reach for Christ. It is a bit like today.

Acts 17:32-34 … Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” So Paul went out from their midst. But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.

Some rejected him, some wanted to hear more, and others believed but to everyone that day Paul made it clear that God commands them to repent.

Paul at least saw the beginnings of a church in Athens. However, Luke doesn’t give an exhaustive list in each location. In their day they had a greater focus on possession of faith than on profession of faith so they didn’t stress the head count. In Athens, we know a ruling aristocrat named Dionysius was saved along with Damaris “and others”. This was not an easy place to minister but the Holy Spirit did move here. I imagine that many of the problems that had to be addressed in the Corinthian Christians were even more severe here. We’ll read about Corinth next week. Also the struggles of the early Church with Platonism and Gnosticism were likely stewing in Athens from the time of Paul. I think what is encouraging here is that Paul yielded to God the Father, shared the Gospel of God the Son, and the God the Holy Spirit saved people. That is the example we need.

Acts 18:1-4 … After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 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, and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade. And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.

Paul may have experienced some disappointment about Athens. He moved about 50 miles farther and found a couple who were starting a business and he began to work with this couple. As I mentioned last week, the couple had to leave Rome when Claudius got nervous about somebody named “Chrestus” and that was likely a misunderstanding of what was being said about Christ. The interaction of Jews that rejected the Gospel and those who accepted the Gospel along with Gentiles was often loud and violent. Rome didn’t like those they conquered to be loud and violent. They reserved the activities of being loud and violent for themselves.

Paul was also probably low on funds or he would not have been making tents. He was beginning to support himself. Athens was a difficult place to minister and so was Corinth. Corinth was remarkably immoral. They had a temple to Aphrodite (Venus if you were Roman) with as many as 10,000 temple prostitutes. In Paul’s time, and for hundreds of years before, if you were called a Corinthian and were not from Corinth it was an insult. It was a very diverse city and prosperous but it was a very sinful place to be. Las Vegas or New Orleans during Mardi Gras might aspire to this level of corruption.

The diversity of the city meant that there was a Jewish Synagogue so Paul presented the Gospel each Sabbath there to Jews and Gentiles who attended the Synagogue.

Acts 18:5-8 … When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. 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.” 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. 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.

Silas and Timothy had finished planting the Church in Macedonia so they caught up with Paul. Paul was then able to minister and teach more or less full time. He didn’t have the same need to make tents with Silas and Timothy there. Paul ended his work in the Synagogue and the house church of Titius Justus (a Gentile) was established. When Paul withdrew the believers withdrew and in this case that includes the significant conversion of Crispus as ruler of the synagogue along with many others. The house church was growing and naturally it would also be an offense to the Jews who rejected the Gospel.

Acts 18:9-11 … And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, 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.” And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

The Lord encouraged Paul not to worry about opposition from Jews that rejected the Gospel. Paul has a promise from God that, “no one will attack you to harm you” and that must have been music to Paul’s ears. He knew about being attacked and even left for dead. So Paul stayed put and ministered for a year and a half planting the Church in Corinth before he was legally attacked but not harmed.

Acts 18: 12-17 … But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the tribunal, saying, “This man is persuading people to worship God contrary to the law.” 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. 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.” And he drove them from the tribunal. 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 full name was Junius Annaeus Gallio because he was adopted by a famous rhetorician or speaker named Lucius but his father was Seneca (the Elder) and his brother was Seneca (the Younger) who was famous as a Stoic Philosopher. Nero shortened their lives as he did many lives in his time. Gallio’s comments and actions show that the Romans didn’t generally differentiate between Jews and Christians at this point in time. They didn’t really have the religious frame of reference to differentiate between Jews and Christians. That would come later. It is also clear that Gallio didn’t really care what the Jews thought in his province.

Paul never even needs to defend himself. Gallio tells the Jews to get out of his court and has them driven out. Once they are outside the Greeks beat the ruler of the synagogue. This was presumably in response for the synagogue of Corinth bringing a case that had nothing to do with anything Gallio cared about or would even hear. It is possible that Sosthenes gets saved later (1 Corinthians 1:1). Getting beaten may have been how God got his attention. I remember when George Forman said he saw Jesus and that Jesus told him to start preaching. I was listening to some sports commentators during Forman’s comeback and one was wondering why George was trying to take up boxing again. The other commentator speculated that maybe George wanted to see Jesus again. Maybe taking a beating can work in the lives of some folks. We can ask Sosthenes when we see him how the Holy Spirit used that beating in his life.

Acts 18:18-21 … 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. And they came to Ephesus, and he left them there, but he himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. When they asked him to stay for a longer period, he declined. But on taking leave of them he said, “I will return to you if God wills,” and he set sail from Ephesus.

It was time to go home to Antioch in Syria to the people who had sent Paul out on his second missionary journey. Paul cut his hair marking the end of his vow. Think of this as being like “Lent” or the time we are in right now. People often fast something during this time and in Scripture (Numbers 6:1-21) it can be accompanied by not cutting your hair for a time and then cutting it at the end with thanksgiving. Paul only ministers in Ephesus a little while this time but he left Priscilla and Aquila to work there. God does eventually send Paul back for an extended period of time but at this point in time it was God’s will for Paul to go home to Antioch and that is what he did.