The Providence of God
Series: Acts
Chuck Sligh
July 23, 2017
TEXT: Acts 18:1-6 – “After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth; 2 And found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome:) and came unto them. 3 And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation they were tentmakers. 4 And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks. 5 And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ.”
INTRODUCTION
Illus. – Before my dad retired from the Air Force, he and my Mom began seeking God’s will for their lives after retirement. Dad had earned a university degree in the service, and he had always wanted to be a Christian school teacher in a missionary school overseas.
One day, Dad was praying for God’s direction and he flipped through a Christian magazine and an ad jumped out at him. It said: “Wanted: Christian couple to teach in Christian school in Okinawa, Japan.”
Now the last place in the world Mom and Dad wanted to go to was Okinawa, since that was where my brother had been electrocuted to death. But they wanted to be open to the Lord’s will, so Dad wrote the school.
Now catch this: he wrote that he had a B.A. degree in secondary education (that is, high school). His main subject area (what is called a proficiency) was physical education and his minor was history. He added that my mother had taught kindergarten for many years.
The principal of the school wrote back immediately, saying that Dad and Mom were exactly what they had been praying for. A couple had recently left and the husband had been the P.E. teacher, who also taught history, and by the way, his wife was the kindergarten teacher.
They needed someone qualified to fill EXACTLY the positions my Dad and Mom were trained for!
Now let me ask you a question: Do you think that was a coincidence? I don’t believe there is any such thing as “coincidence” in the lives of a believer. I believe in what in theological terms is called “the providence of God.”
The doctrine of the providence of God is taught all through the Bible, and it is clearly evident in our text. Paul came to Corinth from Athens alone, without his co-workers, Silas and Timothy.
Not only was we alone, but he seems to have been discouraged and penniless as well. The establishment of the church in Athens had not been particularly successful.
Furthermore, Paul was out of money. He had sometimes lived on the contributions of churches and individuals up to that time. But in this chapter it tells us that Paul returned to his trade of tent-making. All Jewish rabbis were required to have a back-up trade so that they could support themselves if they found themselves unemployed as a rabbi. Later, Silas and Timothy would arrive with financial support from churches because after their arrival, Paul gives up tent-making and goes full-time as a preacher from that point on. But in the meantime, Paul had to work on the side to support himself.
It was during this difficult, discouraging time that verse 2 says Paul “found” a certain Jew and his wife named Aquila and Priscilla, whom we talked about last Sunday. But actually, God had sent these people into Paul’s life to help him through a critical juncture in his life and ministry.
Notice the progression of God’s providence in this passage:
1. In verse 2, Emperor Claudius commands all Jews to leave Rome.
2. Also in verse 2, we read that Aquila and Priscilla move to Corinth and it is there they meet Paul who is lonely and destitute.
3. In verses 2-17, they’re won to Christ, and/or discipled by Paul and they all work together to build a church in Corinth.
4. Paul later leaves Corinth and on the trip leaves Aquila and Priscilla at Ephesus according to verses 18-23, where they continue to minister.
5. At Ephesus, they meet with Apollos whom they disciple in the faith (verses 24-28).
6. Finally, chapter 19 tells us that Apollos goes to Corinth to replace Paul as the pastor of the Corinthian church.
So there is a full circle from Paul and Aquila and Priscilla’s meeting in Corinth to the eventual replacement for Paul in Corinth some years later! Now all this looks like a series of coincidences or chance meetings with key people who would play important roles in both Paul’s life and the development of the early church. In fact, all of these people were fulfilling God’s grand scheme to fulfill His will in their lives and to get just the right man to replace Paul in Corinth. They were acting in accordance with the providence of God.
Let me share with you three things about the providence of God.
I. FIRST LET’S DEFINE AND EXPLAIN THE DOCTRINE OF GOD’S PROVIDENCE.
The providence of God is defined by The New Bible Dictionary as “the unceasing activity of the Creator whereby…he upholds His creatures in ordered existence, guides and governs all events, circumstances, and free acts of angels and men, and directs everything to its appointed goal, for his own glory.”
God’s providence manifests itself in three spheres:
1. First, He exercises His providence in the natural order.
God rules all the natural forces, wild animals and all natural activities in the world, great and small, from thunderstorms to the death of a sparrow. This was clearly demonstrated to Job when God revealed Himself and His power to him in Job 38-41. We’ll not look at this passage today, but you ought to take the time to read Job 38-41 in your own time. It will increase your awe and reverence for God.
Psalm 147:7-9 says, “Sing unto the LORD with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God: 8 Who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains. 9 He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry.”
2. Second, God exercises His providence in human history.
Since the Fall, God has been executing a plan of redemption for humanity. This plan pivots upon Christ’s first coming and culminates in His Second Coming. And God has been ruling and arranging events in such a way to fulfill His plan through Jesus Christ.
Therefore, the pivotal role of the Jews; the life, death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ; the institution of the church; and all the events of the last days, including the Tribulation, Millennial Reign and judgments—all are part of the intricate plan and will of God which cannot be thwarted and which will culminate in the establishment of God’s perfect Kingdom and the redemption of His elect and bring all glory to God.
3. Third, God exercises His providence in our personal circumstances.
That’s the primary arena I want to dwell on today, as it has the most bearing on our personal lives. This is the teaching that God guides the lives of His people, and that things do not happen by happenstance. Rather, God turns every circumstance, event, and acquaintance to fulfill His will and our good.
That is awesome to contemplate.
II. LET ME NEXT GIVE YOU SOME ILLUSTRATIONS OF GOD’S PROVIDENCE IN OUR LIVES.
If you have been saved very long at all, you can plainly see times when the providence of God was clearly evident in your life.
Illus. – I only recall meeting my cousin Larry a couple of times in my childhood. Larry grew up in a Christian home, but as a young adult, he was drawn away from God by the world. Along the way he met and married Stephanie, who did not know Christ. Larry had a desire to get right with God but just ambled along in his Christian life in a backslidden condition.
Then they got orders to come to England. And where in all the world do you think the Lord had him stationed?— Bicester, England where his cousin—I—was ministering in a small church. It was in England, in my church, that LARRY got his life straightened out with the Lord. It was in England that Stephanie found peace and contentment in knowing Jesus Christ as her personal Lord and Savior.
Was it coincidence that brought them all the way to England where a cousin he barely knew just "happened" to be ministering for the Gospel? Not on your life!—It was the providence of God!
Illus. – I remember when my dad was a missionary in Puerto Rico for several years. He came to a point where he felt like God was finished with him there, so he decided to see if the Lord needed him elsewhere.
He had heard that there were no missionaries in Panama to the Panamanians and it occurred to him that if he could get in as a retired military person working with American military personnel, maybe he could later sponsor other missionaries in to work with the Panamanians. So he decided to make a survey trip to Panama and scout around to see what God would show him. He flew in on a space-available flight on a Wednesday and decided to visit an American church of a different denomination that night to pick his brain about the need for another American church in Panama. When he arrived, He prayed, “Lord, if you want me to start a church here, please lead me to people who want to start a church.”
He didn’t have a ride, so he hitchhiked to this church about 10 miles away. The FIRST car that came by stopped and picked Dad up and it was an American in the Air Force stationed in Panama. Dad and the driver struck up a conversation and the man asked him what Dad was doing in Panama. When Dad told him he was a Baptist pastor looking to see if there were a need for a church, the man stopped his car and looked at him in astonishment. He said, “This is incredible. There are four families who are Baptists and this past Sunday we met to pray about starting a church. We spent most of Sunday evening praying that God would send us a pastor.”
Dad got his phone number and decided to meet with them the following Sunday. The man dropped Dad off at the church he was visiting and on the door there was a sign stating that the service had been canceled that evening. About the same time, another man walked up, read the sign and said to my Dad, “Well, that’s too bad. I need some fellowship. I just moved to Panama, and to tell the truth, I’m really looking for an Baptist church. You don’t happen to know where there is one, do you?”
Well, I could go on and on, but you get the picture. Dad could tell you a litany of circumstances that showed beyond any shadow of a doubt the clear hand of God. Mom and Dad served as missionaries to the U.S. military in Panama for almost 20 years and thousands came to Christ through their ministry. Also, even though the Noriega administration was hostile to all religious groups, Dad and the church he pastored WAS able to sponsor a number of missionaries to the Panamanians under different mission boards. This opened the door to scores of missionaries of many Christian groups being able to eventually come to Panama and spread the Gospel to Panamanians.
Did these events occur by chance? Were they the result of sheer coincidence? No, they are vivid evidence of the providence of God.
Illus. – Another example is when the Wilt family first moved to Bicester, England where I was pastoring in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The Wilts were stationed at the small communications Air Force base called RAF Croughton. They had settled in, but just weren’t real happy at the chapel on base. One night, they prayed, “Lord, show us where there is a church where we can grow in the Lord here in Bicester.”
I was passing out leaflets advertising our church that evening and at the exact moment they had finished praying that prayer, they heard a sound, “Ka-plop.” If you have lived in England, you’ll know what I’m talking about and if you haven’t, you’re totally clueless. In England, there are no mailboxes. Your mail is dropped into a little slot in the front door that has a distinctive sound you hear when someone drops something through the mail slot—“Ka-plop.”
Anyway, Jeff went to the door, read the leaflet quickly, and then came back to the other and said, “Well, it looks like the Lord just answered our prayer!” They visited the church, joined a few weeks later and were a great blessing in our church.
Coincidence?—No, that was the providence of God.
All of these are obvious illustrations of the providence of God during my ministry. Think how great a God we serve who multiplies these amazing incidences millions of times over in people’s lives!
III. LET’S FINALLY THINK ABOUT THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD APPLIED (WHAT THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD ARE IN OUR LIVES)
Consider with me three implications of this doctrine:
1. First, the doctrine of God’s providence should fill us with awe and worship of a God of such incredible greatness and omniscience and power.
Think of how great and gracious God must be to be able to work all these minute details in millions of lives so as to accomplish His will in their lives. Such a God is worthy of all our worship and praise and thanks.
2. Second, the providence of God should remind us that every person we come into contact with is God-arranged, either for us to enrich them, or for them to enrich us.
God uses circumstances and people to do His awesome works in people’s lives. God used a series of circumstances that look like mere coincidences to you to get you where you are in your Christian life. But they weren’t coincidences; they were part of God’s plan to mold and guide you.
Did it ever occur to you that you might be part of God’s plan for someone to find faith in Christ or to grow in Christ? Look for opportunities to enrich and enlighten people spiritually and to point them to God.
3. Lastly, realize that every trial or problem will be turned to a part of God’s plan to mature you and bring glory to Him.
It’s not a fluke or an accident. And God promises that He will not allow any trial to overtake or overwhelm you so that you do not have the power to overcome.
In other words, when you go through trials, God has not abandoned you! No, in fact, He’s orchestrating everything to build His character into your life and to fulfill His plan for your life.
a. That’s why we are to “rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS,” as Paul exhorts in Philippians 4:4.
b. That’s why Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:16: “Rejoice EVERMORE.”
c. And in 1 Thessalonians 5:18 he says “In EVERY THING give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
Why?—Because in God’s providence we can be sure Romans 8:28 is true: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
CONCLUSION
So what’s the point God wants us to get out of this sermon today?
1. First, when was last time you sat down and just spent time in prayer just praising God for His incredible wonder and majesty?
God wants you to take time to really worship Him, and we do that by thanking Him for the many ways that He is such a great God.
2. Second, do you look upon the people you come into contact with each day as part of God’s plan for your life?
Listen, every person you come into contact is a divine appointment. As I said before, God wants you to see that person as either someone for you to enrich or for them to enrich you. Why don’t you look out to see what God is doing through the people you see each day?
3. Third, have you forgotten that God has not abandoned you in your trials and problems?
He’s there all right—more than you realize. He’s working in every single trouble an amazing tapestry of good for your life.
I know trials are hard to go through, but don’t forget that God is the master craftsman and He’s working all things out for good in your life if you are a believer.
4. Finally, have you surrendered your life to this wonderful God?
If not, guess what?—God has brought people into your life to influence you to come to Him. He’s brought you to this town and this church to hear God’s Word today. It’s no coincidence that you’re here today; God meant for you to hear this message!
God’s an INCREDIBLE God! Not only has He brought people into your life to influence you to come to Christ, I want you to know that He has a wonderful plan for your life. But in order to experience that wonderful life, you have to come to Christ for salvation. I want to invite you to come to put your faith in Jesus Christ today.
