Where to Find Encouragement When Sharing Your Faith
Tom Shrader walks through Acts 18:1-17, tracing Paul's ministry in Corinth as he worked as a tentmaker alongside Aquila and Priscilla, reasoned in the synagogue, and eventually turned to the Gentiles after Jewish opposition. God's nighttime vision to Paul — commanding him not to fear, promising His presence, and declaring that He had many people in the city — forms the heart of the message and serves as direct encouragement to believers who feel afraid or weary in sharing their faith. Shrader applies these promises directly to the congregation, urging them to see their workplaces as mission fields and to trust that God is sovereignly at work in the lives of people around them.
“You were made with needs that can be met through people, places, and things, but you have deeper needs that can only be met through an intimate relationship with God through His Son, Jesus Christ.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: Acts
Recorded: 2000 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 47 min
Themes: evangelism, encouragement, fear, sharing your faith, workplace witness, God's presence, missions, boldness, feeling afraid to witness, workplace believer, discouraged in ministry, new believer, feeling weary, coworker evangelist, struggling with fear, everyday Christian
Scripture: Acts 18:1-17, Acts 1:8, Acts 9:12, Acts 16:9-10, Acts 17:2-3, Acts 17:15, Acts 22:17-18, Acts 23:11, Acts 27:23-24, Romans 1:16, Philippians 4:15, 2 Corinthians 11:9, Matthew 28:20, Hebrews 13:5, Joshua 1:5, Joshua 1:9, 1 Corinthians 1:1, Isaiah 40:29-31
Theological Themes: missiology, divine sovereignty, Acts of the Apostles, witness, Holy Spirit, tentmaking ministry, providence, Great Commission
Full Transcript
and a character in that play was a Corinthian, everyone watching automatically knew that character was a drunkard or immoral. To be called a Corinthian was a term of reproach. The verb "to Corinthianize" meant to practice immorality. That is the city Paul walks into.
Background: Paul Arrives in Corinth
After these things, he left Athens and went to Corinth. He is walking into one of the most strategic, most wicked, most cosmopolitan cities in the Roman Empire. And Paul is one man. He is walking in alone, and he is going to attempt to share the gospel of Jesus Christ in that city.
Verse 2: "And he found a certain Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, having recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome, and he came to them." Now here is something very important. Paul finds Aquila and Priscilla. They are Jews. They have been expelled from Rome. The Emperor Claudius issued an edict expelling the Jews from Rome, and history records that this happened around 49 to 50 AD. Aquila and Priscilla have made their way to Corinth. And notice that when Paul finds them, they are already believers. They are already Christians. They are not people Paul is going to lead to faith. They are people who are already walking with God.
Verse 3: "And because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and they were working, for by trade they were tent makers." Paul is a tent maker. Aquila is a tent maker. And so Paul stays with them. He works with them. He earns his living making tents. Now why does this matter? Because Paul does not want to be a financial burden to the church at Corinth. He does not want anyone to be able to accuse him of preaching the gospel for money. So he supports himself with his own hands.
Paul's Ministry Pattern in Corinth
Verse 4: "And he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks." So Paul has a pattern. Every Sabbath he goes to the synagogue. He reasons from the scriptures. He tries to persuade both Jews and Greeks that Jesus is the Messiah. This is his consistent practice wherever he goes. He goes first to the Jews, because the gospel is to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Verse 5: "But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely to the word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ." When Silas and Timothy arrive, something changes. Paul is now free to give himself completely to the preaching of the word. It is likely that Silas and Timothy brought a financial gift from the church at Philippi, which relieved Paul of the need to work full time as a tent maker. Now he can focus entirely on the proclamation of the gospel.
Verse 6: "But when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his garments and said to them, 'Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.'" This is a solemn moment. Paul has reasoned with the Jews in the synagogue. He has testified that Jesus is the Christ. And they have not merely rejected the message — they have blasphemed. They have spoken evil of Christ. And so Paul makes a decisive break. He shakes out his garments, which is a symbolic act of separation, and he declares that from this point forward he will turn to the Gentiles.
A New Base of Ministry
Verse 7: "Then he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God, whose house was next to the synagogue." Paul moves his base of operations. He leaves the synagogue and takes up residence in the home of Titius Justus, a Gentile who worships God. And notice where this house is located — right next door to the synagogue. This is not an accident. Paul is still in plain sight of the very people who rejected the message.
Verse 8: "Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his household, and many of the Corinthians when they heard were believing and being baptized." Crispus is the ruler of the synagogue. He is the very man responsible for leading Jewish worship in Corinth. And he believes. He comes to faith in Jesus Christ, along with his entire household. And beyond Crispus, many of the Corinthians are believing and being baptized. God is at work. The gospel is bearing fruit in this wicked city.
Encouragement Directly from God
Now we come to the passage I want us to focus on carefully. Verse 9: "And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, 'Do not be afraid any longer, keep on speaking and do not be silent.'" The Lord speaks directly to Paul. He speaks to him at night, in a vision. And the very first words out of the Lord's mouth are, "Do not be afraid." That tells us something important. It tells us that Paul was afraid. This great apostle, this man who had been beaten, imprisoned, run out of city after city, was afraid. He is standing in one of the most corrupt cities in the Roman world, and he is afraid.
Why would God say "do not be afraid" if Paul were not afraid? He would not. Paul is a man, and he experiences what every man and woman experiences when they stand alone in the face of overwhelming opposition. He is afraid. And God comes to him in the night and speaks directly to his fear.
Notice also what God says next: "keep on speaking and do not be silent." This is a present imperative in the Greek. It means keep on doing what you are already doing. Do not stop. Do not let the opposition, do not let the fear, cause you to go quiet. Keep speaking. The command is clear and urgent.
Verse 10: "'for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city.'" God gives Paul three reasons to keep on speaking and not be silent. First, "I am with you." God Himself is present with Paul in Corinth. Second, "no man will attack you in order to harm you." God is giving Paul a guarantee of physical protection for the duration of his ministry in this city. Third, and this is remarkable: "I have many people in this city." God already knows who is going to believe. There are people in Corinth — people who do not yet know the gospel, people who are perhaps at this very moment living in the darkness of that wicked city — and God calls them His people. He knows them. He has chosen them. And He is telling Paul, you need to stay and keep speaking, because those people need to hear the gospel from you.
Why Paul Was Afraid
I want to stop here and think carefully about why Paul was afraid in Corinth, because I think it helps us understand our own fears when it comes to sharing our faith. Paul had faced tremendous opposition. He had been beaten with rods in Philippi. He had been driven out of Thessalonica and Berea. He had stood in Athens and preached to the philosophers on Mars Hill and seen very little response. He arrives in Corinth alone. He is one man in a vast, wicked, cosmopolitan city. And the Jews in the synagogue are resisting and blaspheming. The pressure is immense.
But here is what I want you to see. Even in the middle of all of that — the opposition, the loneliness, the discouragement, the fear — God does not tell Paul to leave. God does not say, you have done enough, move on to the next city. God says, stay. Keep speaking. Do not be silent. Because I have many people here, and they need to hear the gospel.
This is one of the most encouraging passages in the entire book of Acts for anyone who is involved in sharing their faith. God sees the fear. God acknowledges the difficulty of the situation. And then God speaks directly into that fear with His presence, His protection, and His sovereign purpose.
The Encouragement God Gives to Those Who Share Their Faith
So what does this passage teach us about where to find encouragement when sharing our faith? I want to draw out several things from these verses.
First, God is aware of our fear. He does not rebuke Paul for being afraid. He does not say, shame on you, you should not feel this way. He meets Paul in the night, in the middle of the fear, and He speaks. That is the character of God. He is a God who draws near to His people in their weakness.
Second, God commands us to keep speaking. "Keep on speaking and do not be silent." This is not a suggestion. It is a command. There will be opposition. There will be moments when everything in us wants to go quiet, wants to avoid the conversation, wants to move on. And God's word to us in those moments is the same as His word to Paul: do not be silent.
Third, God promises His presence. "I am with you." This is the great promise that runs throughout scripture, from God's word to Moses at the burning bush, to Jesus's final words to His disciples in Matthew 28: "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." The presence of God is the foundational encouragement for every person who goes out to share the gospel.
Fourth, God promises protection according to His purposes. "No man will attack you in order to harm you." Now, this was a specific promise to Paul for his time in Corinth. It does not mean that followers of Christ will never suffer. Paul himself would suffer greatly in other places. But it does mean that God is sovereign over the circumstances of our witness. He is not caught off guard. He is not scrambling. He knows exactly what is happening, and He is in control.
Fifth, and most powerfully: God has people in your city. "I have many people in this city." God knows who is going to believe before they believe. There are people in your neighborhood, in your workplace, in your family, in your school, who are, in the purposes of God, His people — and they have not yet heard the gospel. That should fill us with urgency and with courage. We do not share the gospel hoping something might happen. We share the gospel knowing that God is already at work, that He has already prepared hearts, and that our job is to be faithful to speak.
Paul Remains in Corinth
Verse 11: "And he settled there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them." Paul obeys. He stays. He does not run. He does not go silent. He remains in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching the word of God. This is the longest recorded stay in any city during Paul's missionary journeys up to this point. God said stay, and Paul stayed. God said keep speaking, and Paul kept speaking. And the result is eighteen months of sustained gospel ministry in one of the darkest cities in the Roman world.
This is the pattern of faithful witness. You show up. You stay. You keep speaking the word of God, even when it is hard, even when you are afraid, even when the opposition is real. And you trust that God, who has many people in the city, will bring those people to Himself through the proclamation of His word.
Let me ask you a personal question as we close. Is there someone in your life right now — a neighbor, a coworker, a family member — to whom you have been afraid to speak the gospel? Is there a conversation you have been avoiding? Is there a silence you have been comfortable with that God is calling you to break?
The word of the Lord to Paul is the word of the Lord to you: do not be afraid. Keep on speaking. Do not be silent. For God is with you, and He has many people in your city.
Paul Arrives in Corinth
Any person from Corinth was always depicted as a drunkard or a prostitute. My friend Larry Wright was in Corinth and came back, and he said one of the most incredible things was to see these pieces of pottery that were several thousand years old covered with graphic, pornographic images. When you said you were from Corinth, that was synonymous with a perverted life and lifestyle, with a wicked, wicked place. Everything went in the pursuit of happiness and self-fulfillment and joy. Not one single philosopher of any reputation came out of Corinth. It was a decadent area.
Now that is the city that Paul comes into. Sometimes I think we sterilize this stuff, and sometimes we miss this. He comes in, and they mock him, and they make fun of him. This is a wicked town that he comes into, and he comes alone. We saw back in chapter 17, verse 15, that Silas and Timothy had left him and gone to Macedonia. We will see today that they rejoin him.
Paul Meets Priscilla and Aquila
When he arrives in the town, he finds a certain Jew named Aquila. He is a native of Pontus and had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. In 49 AD, Claudius had had it with the Jews in Rome. There were about 20,000 Jews in Rome, and they had been a source of problems for him. He had warned them, and finally in 49 AD he said, "You're out of here," and he threw all the Jews out of Rome — not necessarily out of Italy, but out of Rome.
Priscilla and Aquila leave Rome and land in Corinth. We are told that Aquila was from Pontus, which was in this same region, so he would be familiar with the area. He comes to Corinth, and here is what we see. Paul came to them, verse 3, because he was of the same trade. He stayed with them and was working with them, for by trade they were tent makers — workers with leather.
The Dignity of Work in Jewish Tradition
We have talked about this before in terms of every Jewish boy being taught a trade by his father, and the rabbis continued to work. Here is what William Barclay says — let me just read it to you. "Here we have a vivid light on the kind of life that Paul lived. He was a rabbi, and according to Jewish practice, every rabbi must have a trade. He must take no money for preaching or teaching and must make his own living." The Jews glorified work. Here is what they said: "Love work. He who does not teach his son a trade teaches him robbery. Talent is the study of law along with a worldly trade, for the practice of them both makes a man forget iniquity. But all law without work must in the end fail and causes iniquity."
So we find rabbis following every respectable trade. Barclay adds one more sentence that is so important: it meant that they — the rabbis — never became detached scholars and always knew what the life of the working man was like. So the man at the front understood what the man in the pew was going through in the simplest terms.
Your Workplace Is Your Mission Field
Paul becomes a tent maker. He uses this trade, he befriends Priscilla and Aquila, and they befriend him. They take him in, and he begins to work with them. Now, let me spend a moment on this, because some of you are familiar with the term "tent making" as it relates to Christian service. We frequently talk about it when we talk about a missionary — that a missionary will go out, have a job, earn a living, and support themselves financially in ministry. Paul is not held up here as the only or even the best way of doing it; this is simply the way it happens here.
Here is a point I want to make. Whenever we teach, I try to make sure we ask three questions. What do you say? Is it true? So what? What difference does all of this make? Here is the "so what" of this. Ray Stedman suggests that Priscilla and Aquila were not Christians at this point. We do not know that for certain, but through the ministry and work of Paul the Apostle, they become converted by the Holy Spirit.
The ministry that Paul had at his workplace should be identical to the ministry you have in your workplace. If you do not see where you work as a mission field, as you grow serious about your faith, you are doomed to frustration. I watch it all the time. Here is what happens: a person comes to Christ, gets serious about their faith, and begins to grow. Two things happen. One, they begin to despise their work, and two, because of that, all of a sudden they feel like God has called them to go to seminary or called them away from the workplace. I am not going to belittle that, because that is what I did. But I am saying I do not think that is for very many people. If you do not see your ministry as your workplace, you are deficient. God has men and women around you that He will use you to touch. It is what we see, I think, in the life of the Apostle Paul.
Paul Reasons in the Synagogue
So he is working as a tent maker, and at the same time, verse 4, he is reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks. He is going to them and he is preaching. What is he saying? We do not know the specifics, but look back a chapter earlier, Acts chapter 17, verses 2 and 3. I think we have there a pretty good overview and summary of what Paul did in these synagogues. "And according to Paul's custom, he went to them, and for three Sabbaths he reasoned with them from the Scripture, explaining and giving evidence that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, 'This Jesus whom I proclaim to you is the Christ.'"
He would go into the synagogues, and whenever there was a synagogue in the city — remember, it took at least ten Jewish men to establish a synagogue — he would begin there, for they were the ones who at least had some interest in the things of God.
Paul's Full-Time Ministry Begins
When Paul opened the Scriptures — the Old Testament — he explained what the Scripture says about the Messiah. He told his listeners that the Scriptures promise a Messiah who would come, that they were waiting for that Messiah, and that they were to be pitied in the sense that the Messiah had already come. He would prove Jesus was the Messiah by taking the Scripture and applying the prophecies that were fulfilled in the life of Christ.
Turning back to Acts chapter 18, verse four says Paul was reasoning in the synagogue — and this is probably what he was doing, what he was explaining to them. Verse five reads: "When Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely to the word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ." Timothy, we know, had been in Thessalonica. We are not sure about Silas, though we believe he had spent at least some time in Philippi.
When they arrived, Paul's strategy changed. No longer was he tent-making — he was now full-time devoting himself to the teaching of the word. It seems reasonable to assume that this shift was facilitated by the arrival of some financial support as well. Probably a couple of things happened: he had made and saved some money to support himself, and some gifts also came in.
Paul writes in Philippians 4:15, "No church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you alone." And when he writes back to the church at Corinth in 2 Corinthians 11:9, he says, "When I was present with you and in need, I was not a burden to any of you, for when the brethren came from Macedonia, they fully supplied my need." That is probably what he is referring to here. Silas and Timothy had been sent out to check on the churches in Macedonia, and the instruction they were given — the last thing we see in Acts chapter 17, verse 15 — was to come back and rejoin the apostle Paul, in this case in Corinth.
Resistance and a Bold Response
Now Paul is teaching, and verse six tells us that the Jews resisted and blasphemed. The word "resisted" means there was an organized resistance — it means to arrange in some sort of battle-ready position. Their hearts were closed, their minds were shut, their eyes were blinded. They could not see. This did not merely fail to make sense to them — they were radically against it and would have no part of it.
Paul responded by shaking out his garments and declaring, "Your blood be on your own heads. I am clean. From now on, I will go to the Gentiles." Whenever a Jew traveled on Gentile land and returned home, the first thing he would do is dust the Gentile dust off his garments. The Jews knew exactly what Paul was doing when he shook out his garments here — and it infuriated them. He was saying, in effect, I am condemning you and your blasphemy, and I want nothing to do with it.
He also made clear that he himself was not responsible or guilty for their resistance. "Your blood is on your own heads. I am clean. From now on, I am going to the Gentiles." Paul had reached a point where he sensed that door was shut. You know how sometimes in your own life you are dealing with somebody who resists you and resists you, and yet for whatever reason you keep going — but with other people you can simply tell from the body language, the attitude, what is going on, and you have had enough. Paul had reached that point with these men.
In his mind, Paul was essentially saying: I am an apostle, I am a man of God, and I am going to preach where I am needed, where God can use me. God, I will go anywhere in the world You call me. As it turned out, he did not have to go very far.
When God Closes One Door
Look at verse seven: "He departed from there and he went to the house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God, and the house was next door to the synagogue." He only had to go right around the corner. Paul had said, God, I will go wherever You want — and the answer was, fine, how about next door?
This brings to mind Romans chapter 1, verse 16: "I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." God simply opened a door, and it was right next door. Donald Gray Barnhouse writes about this verse and puts it this way: when God closes one door, He always opens another someplace else. When God shuts something down, something else always opens up.
You can see how that works in everyday life. When the news came that Les might be leaving, it became clear — at least from this perspective — that he was uniquely gifted and qualified for the position Bob Vernon had available. As he responded to that call, it became convincing that God was indeed leading him there. And if God was calling Les to that, then God already had his replacement. There is a great deal of comfort in that.
Yet when word got out that Les was going, the instinct was to scramble — pull together resumes, run an ad in Christianity Today, beat the drums and get the word out. But it took God exactly one day to bring the right person. It simply makes all the sense in the world: if God has called someone somewhere, He already has the replacement ready. It is the same principle at work in your own life. When you say "I do not have the time," we know that cannot be true — God is not going to call you to something without providing what you need to do it.
God's Unexpected Work in Unlikely People
God is not going to call you to an area of ministry and then not give you the time for it. If you feel you don't have time, it means either you've missed the call, or you're spending time on something other than what God has called you to do.
Paul goes right next door to the synagogue and begins to teach, and people begin to respond. So much so that verse eight becomes a huge deal: "Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his household, and many of the Corinthians, when they heard, they were believing, and they were being baptized." It is not just that people were being converted — Crispus is one of the heads of the synagogue. It is not just that a Jew had converted to Christianity; this is one of the leaders. This is big-time stuff.
Let this be a reminder to you: you never know where God is going to work. There are people in your life — and if you close your eyes right now you can probably picture someone — about whom you are thinking, "God is never going to save that person." Let me tell you something: you have not got a clue. Every once in a while, God moves in an incredible way and saves somebody, and oftentimes it is when you least expect it and with the person you least expect it from. In fact, there may be a room full of them right here, right now.
When I was a coal banker, there was a group of guys who had a Bible study at Phoenix Country Club — the Bible study that Larry Wright taught. Most Christians are eager to get anyone to come to a Bible study; you will talk to just about anybody to try to get them there. Here is the thing: no one ever invited me to that Bible study. No one. I was probably not considered a strong candidate.
What finally happened was I walked into a guy's office, closed the door, and said, "I know you go to that Bible study." He said, "Yes, I do." I said, "Could I go?" And he said, "Well, it's for anyone." At that moment I met the strict criteria for getting into that room — 98.6 degrees and breathing — and suddenly I was eligible. You do not have a clue what God is going to do.
One day at Priority Living, a relatively new guy came in and we were talking when he spotted someone across the room. He said, "Does that guy go here?" I said yes. He said, "Do you know him?" I said only that he was involved in his church and some other things. He said, "There is no way. I used to hang around with that guy. There is no way that guy is a Christian." He had not seen him for years, granted. But after that man left, this fellow came up to me and said, "I saw you talking to that guy — what is his deal?" I said he was new to the study. He said again, "There is no way."
We believe God can change us, but somehow we convince ourselves He cannot change anyone else. That had to be some of what was happening in Corinth. People were saying, "Are you telling me that Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, is now one of them?" And yet they heard, and they believed, and they were baptized.
Six Times God Appeared to Paul in a Vision
In the midst of all of this, something happens that I believe is a profound source of encouragement to us. The Lord spoke to Paul that night by a vision. In fact, six times in the book of Acts, God appears to Paul in a vision. Let me give you the references quickly: Acts chapter 9, verse 12; Acts chapter 16, verses 9 and 10; Acts chapter 22, verses 17 and 18; Acts chapter 23, verse 11; Acts chapter 27, verses 23 and 24; and here in Acts chapter 18.
Here is what God says: "Do not be afraid any longer." The implication of that is clear — Paul is afraid. This is a man who has been beaten, who has been stoned — a form of capital punishment, left for dead. He has been jailed, imprisoned, confronted, and opposed in every way you can possibly imagine. And he is afraid. That is a completely natural human response, and you see people around you all the time who are afraid. Most often it is the people who try hardest to appear as though they have it all together, as though nothing scares them and they are not afraid of anything.
"Do not be afraid" is actually the most frequent prohibition Jesus gives us in the New Testament. In other words, when we consider what Jesus most often tells us not to do, more times than anything else, it is this: do not be afraid. Do you know why? Because Jesus understands you.
God's Command: Go On Speaking
While you may look like a big tough guy on the outside, or you may look like a real confident young lady, He knows that inside you are afraid — of everything. "Do not be afraid." It is interesting that Paul seems afraid at a time of success. It may be that he is thinking, "I know this pattern. I have a little success, and then all of a sudden they take me out and beat me." Or it may be the opposite — that at this point there has been some opposition, but no organized opposition. In other words, he is succeeding.
We should learn that the greatest times of testing we have are in the midst of success. The country you live in, the United States of America, is facing right now one of the greatest tests in the history of the nation. It is not from a foreign enemy, not from the liberal left or the radical right — it is from prosperity. We have so much. And as humans, we simply do not do well when things are going well.
God speaks to Paul, which should not surprise us. Charles Spurgeon writes: "Good men are promised tribulation in this world, and ministers may expect a larger share than others, that they may learn sympathy with the Lord's suffering people, and so may be fitting shepherds for an ailing flock." That is Paul. God gives him a message consisting of four things: a command, a reminder, a promise, and a vision.
The command is this: go on speaking. "Paul, do not be afraid — go on speaking." This is something we have to remind ourselves as leaders and teachers in this church regularly: go on speaking the truth. Whatever business or industry you are in, you have journals and conferences dealing with things that are ever-changing in your fluctuating world. The church is no different. There is constantly pressure to go after the latest gimmick or the latest scheme.
Here is what I hear all the time: "People today will not stand for chapter-by-chapter, verse-by-verse expositional teaching. They can't do it. They live in such a fast-paced age that there is no way they will learn that way. They only have an attention span of twenty minutes at the very most." I thank God for those of you who have been able to break through that. I hear the same thing said about junior high and high school students — that there is no way these kids will sit still. And yet they have already been up in worship, heard a lesson, and now they are in here. That is the power of the Word of God. Chapter-by-chapter, verse-by-verse, just slugging away — nothing fancy. God uses that. The same is true in your area of ministry. You do not need a new gimmick.
God's Reminder: I Am With You
The second thing God gives Paul is a reminder: "I am with you." We seem to need to hear this again and again. Jesus said it at the end of Matthew's Gospel, at the time of the Great Commission: "Teach them to observe all I command you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." The author of Hebrews reminds us: "Let your character be free from the love of money, be content with what you have, for He Himself has said, 'I will never desert you, nor will I leave you or forsake you.'"
As Joshua rises to power, God says words that apply to you as well: "No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you. I will not fail you or forsake you. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." That is the promise you have. You do not need to be afraid. God is with you. The Holy Spirit lives inside of you — that is why you do not need to be afraid.
Let me make this point clearly: the command is not "do not be afraid because you are so strong" or "do not be afraid because you are so clever." Do not be afraid because you are not — what is powerful is He that is in you.
God's Promise: Many People in This City
Here is the promise: "No man will attack you." Paul has been the recipient of many beatings, and opposition is coming, but they will not get him physically this time. And perhaps the greatest promise of all is this: "I have many people in this city." In other words, you are going to see the fruit of this. Do not be afraid, go on speaking, know that I am with you — because your preaching will be effective, not because of your persuasive style, but because of what I am doing.
One commentator writes something I want to be sure to make clearly. God knew, and communicated to His servant, a secret concerning Corinth. He knew the heartache and the agony of many in that city. He knew that the restlessness of Corinth was the outcome of their longing. Remember, we established that this was a wicked city. I would argue that Corinth is very similar to the environment and culture you live in — much more emphasis on pleasure than on intellect, much more emphasis on immediate gratification than delayed gratification, many people living in wicked ways, eating, drinking, and being merry.
But God knows — and as His people, you ought to know it too — that those people are basically miserable. What they are trying to do is occupy themselves and fill themselves. You were made with needs that can be met through people, places, and things only up to a point — and beyond that point, only God can meet them.
Finding True Satisfaction
When I got here this morning, I was thirsty and I was hungry. A banana and a bottle of water took care of it. But I have deeper needs, and you have deeper needs, that can only be met through an intimate relationship with God through His Son, Jesus Christ.
That is why a guy will go from girl to girl to girl, and girls will go from guy to guy to guy. We go from hobby to hobby, class to class, major to major, profession to profession, career to career. What we are trying to do is have a person, a place, or a thing do what only God can do — and that is fill that intimate need.
I saw, along with most of you, Darrell Strawberry a couple of weeks ago getting hauled off in handcuffs for what seemed like the umpteenth time. All I could think was how sad, because this man is captive to the lie of the world. Here is what the world says: just smoke a little of this and you will be happy, or snort a little of this, or shoot a little of this, or have sex here, or get this job, or buy that house.
The problem is that you are trying to find eternal satisfaction through temporal things, and it is never going to happen. You cannot smoke enough dope, you cannot make enough love, you cannot change enough careers, you cannot get enough money — you are never going to be happy. You might be able to mask it for a while. You might be able to look happy, and you can certainly fool the people around you, but when you are all alone and there is nobody else there and you do not have to put on a facade, you know you are miserable. You are trying to ask a person, a place, or a thing to do only what God can do. What you need is not a different girl, not a different guy, not a different job. You need the true God.
Divine Election and Human Responsibility
The people are ready. He said they are His people. Right here Luke holds divine election and human responsibility together in the same passage. Paul declares, "Your blood is on your own heads, I am clean." You are responsible for your own guilt and your own resistance. At the same time, God says, "I have many people here." Luke is entirely comfortable holding both of those truths at once.
Paul Settles in Corinth
Here is what happens next. Paul is obedient and he settles in Corinth for a year and a half. This is somewhat of a new trend for him. He spends a year and a half here, two years in Ephesus, two years in prison in Caesarea, and several years in Rome before he is killed. He is not as itinerant as he was before.
Gallio and the Opposition
Now here is the opposition. Gallio is the proconsul in Achaia, and we know a good deal about him historically. The proconsul served for one year, and Gallio took office in July of 51 AD, serving through June of 52 AD. He is probably new to the role at this point, and the Jews thought, "We have a new guy — let's try it."
Not only was he new, but he came with a reputation as someone who might be easy to persuade. Gallio's brother was Seneca the philosopher, who at this very time was the tutor to Nero. Seneca wrote of his brother that he was an intelligent person who hated flattery and was blessed with an unaffected, pleasant personality — in other words, he was not hung up on himself. Others described Gallio as sweet, gentle, and lovable.
The Jews came before him and said, "This man persuades men to worship God contrary to the law." Under Roman law, the Jews had been permitted to preach Judaism and remain within those confines. What they were arguing was that the new sect Paul proclaimed fell outside those protected boundaries. Under Roman legal procedure, an accuser had to face the accused in open court, the accuser would speak, and then the accused could make his defense. That explains what happens in verse 14.
The Verdict
Paul was about to open his mouth to answer the charges, but before he could, Gallio spoke. He said, "If it were a matter of wrong or a vicious crime, O Jews, it would be reasonable for me to put up with you. But if there are questions about words and names in your own law, look after it yourselves. I am unwilling to be judged in this matter." Case adjourned. He would not even hear it out. There was not enough to the charge to warrant a hearing.
The crowd did not want to leave. Finally, Gallio drove them away from the judgment seat. Then we come to verse 17, and we will spend just a moment here. They took hold of Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue — the one who would have pled their case — and out of frustration with the verdict, they beat him. Gallio showed no concern for any of it, and his day was done.
A Remarkable Footnote
We do not know with certainty whether this is the same man, but consider this. Here is a Jewish leader who, at this point in the story, we have no reason to believe is a follower of Christ. He is beaten. Then Paul writes back to Corinth in the opening verse of First Corinthians chapter one: "Paul, called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Sosthenes, our brother." Perhaps he was converted. Perhaps this beating was a turning point. I cannot say for certain, but it is a remarkable detail if this is the rest of that story.
A Word of Encouragement from Isaiah
Let me close with what Isaiah the prophet wrote, and let it be a source of encouragement and a great reminder to us today. He wrote this:
*"He gives strength to the weary and to him who lacks might He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run and not get tired. They will walk and not become weary."*
Father, maybe there are those today who were afraid as they came in, maybe they are tired and weary. Help us to apply this lesson to our hearts.