Found Faithful
Acts 18:1-17
According to legend, the devil once advertised his tools for sale at public auction. When the prospective buyers assembled, there was one oddly shaped tool, which was labeled “Not for sale.” When asked to explain why this one tool would not be auctioned off to the highest bidder, the devil answered, “I can spare my other tools, but I cannot spare this one. It is the most useful and effective implement that I have. It is called Discouragement, and with it I can work my way into hearts that are otherwise inaccessible. When I get this tool wedged into a man’s heart, the way is open to plant anything there I may desire.”
If there is one thing that is constant it is that we all are subject to discouragement. There is no shortage of discouragements to hinder us from accomplishing the work of God in our lives.
I’ve told you before that one of the reasons we know the Bible is true is because it doesn’t present people of God as these whitewashed, highly varnished, untouchable spiritual giants. Rather, the Bible is full of people of God who at times became susceptible to that most wicked tool – discouragement. Just consider a few discouraged heroes:
Moses
The Greatest leader of the OT; he was handpicked by God himself! He had God’s power on his life in spectacular ways. But the complaining of the people got to him so profoundly that he prayed this prayer to God in Numbers 11: 14“I am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me. 15If you will treat me like this, kill me at once, if I find favor in your sight, that I may not see my wretchedness.” Numbers 11:14-15
Joshua
Greatest General in Israel’s history; he was handpicked by God to lead Israel into the Promised Land. But after Israel had a victory over the city of Jericho, their next battle was against the small town of Ai. So small it only had two vowels in its name – Ai. But because of sin among the people, the Jewish army got whipped by little-bitty Ai. Notice how Joshua responded to this defeat: “Alas, O Lord GOD, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all, to give us into the hands of the Amorites? to destroy us? Would that we had been content to dwell beyond the Jordan!” Joshua 7:7
Elijah
Greatest prophet of OT. Joshua got discouraged after his biggest military defeat. Elijah got discouraged after his biggest prophetic victory. You know the story… he challenged the prophets of Baal to a face off, calling down fire from heaven to consume their offerings.
In 1 Kings 18 the prophets of Baal are wailing and crying out to their god to send fire down to consume their offering. Nothing, crickets. So Elijah mocks them, “Maybe he’s asleep, or perhaps he’s in the bathroom relieving himself.” That’s literally what Elijah said. So they ramp up their wailing and start cutting themselves. Still nothing happens. So Elijah sets up his altar to the Lord, tells them to drench the altar with water, to fill the trench around the altar with water. He prays to God and miraculously God sends fire down. The fire consumes the offering on the altar, the wood of the altar, and the stones of the altar, and laps up all the water in the trenches surrounding the altar. All the people bow down and say, “Yahweh is God!”
But in the very next chapter, right after his greatest prophetic victory, in 1 Kings 19:4 notice what Elijah says to the Lord: But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life. 1 Kings 19:4
After his greatest victory he experienced his deepest season of discouragement where he literally asked God to take away his life.
But it’s not just OT believers that got discouraged, we find discouragement in the pages of the NT as well. Case and point is the subject of the passage before us today, the apostle Paul. We are in Acts 18. And in this passage we find Paul on his second missionary journey; a missionary journey that took the gospel of Jesus onto the continent of Europe for the very first time. Today we'll see Paul coming into the city of Corinth.
We have the epistles of 1 & 2 Corinthians in our Bibles. Those are letters written to the church Paul established in this city on this missionary journey. Near the beginning of 1 Corinthians, Paul reminds the members of that church of the state he was in when he arrived in their city: And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling. 1 Corinthians 2:3
Look at those 3 descriptors Paul used to describe his coming to Corinth - the coming we'll read about in Acts 18. Weakness, fear, and much trembling. That sounds like a man who is discouraged. And if you think about the situation Paul finds himself in, anyone would be discouraged.
Paul has now entered the largest and most wicked city in Greece. Sitting high above the city of Corinth was the temple of Aphrodite, the goddess of love. Everyday 1,000 temple prostitutes would make their way down to the city from the temple and would sell themselves to the travelers, seamen, and business people who had come. Corinth would make Las Vegas look like a haven of morality. In fact, for centuries people made a verb out of the city's name - to corinthianize meant to be completely corrupt & immoral.
There was such a depth of depravity and wickedness in Corinth, the largeness of the work in front of him was no doubt discouraging.
Secondly, I think Paul could have been discouraged because of the little success of the work. While Paul had seen some success, since he's been in Europe he has basically been run out of every city. In Philippi - the first European city he enters - he was mobbed by a riot, beaten with rods and thrown in prison.
In Thessalonica another mob forms against him, seeking to arrest him he gets out of town before they can do so. He travels 100 miles away to Berea where, the instigators of the mob in Thessalonica find out he's there, and they travel for 2 days to go harass him again. He leaves and goes to Athens and there the movers and shakers of society, the intellectual elite call him a "babbler" a seedpicker, and mock him to his face. From there he comes to Corinth. He's by himself - knows absolutely no one in the city. Let me ask you, would you be a little discouraged?
But I am grateful that while the devil is active in discouraging us, God is at work to encourage us. While the devil is trying to drag us down and get us to quit, God is working to lift us up to keep fighting the good fight. Look in your Bible at Acts 18 as we read the account of Paul coming to Corinth.
1After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2And 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, 3and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade. 4And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.
5When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. 6And 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.” 7And 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. 8Crispus, 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. 9And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, 10for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.” 11And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.
Though there was no doubt discouragement in Paul's life when he arrived in Corinth - and for good reason - what we see in Paul is not a disciple who gives up, who throws in the towel and calls it quits. But rather, by God's grace we see a disciple of Jesus who is found faithful. THESIS: What God has fundamentally called us to be is faithful.
When I take this truth and preach it to myself, I think of all that God has called me to do and be as a pastor, the fundamental bottom line is he called me to be faithful. He's called you to be faithful. He's not called us to financial success; he's not called us to build buildings; he's not called us to increase ministry budgets; he's not even called us to experience some kind of phenomenal numerical growth. Now those may come and those may happen. But the bottom line for us as a church is that we be found faithful.
Think about it, when Jesus gave the parable of the talents he was communicating a spiritual truth with an earthly story. The spiritual truth communicated was that one day we will stand before our master and give an account. Notice what he said in Matthew 25:23 - His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ Matthew 25:23
The bottom line is are we faithful to do what Jesus has called us to do. Yes there will be seasons of doubt, discouragement and maybe even depression. But even through those seasons we can be faithful to the task. Paul was. In fact, there are three ways I see Paul being found faithful in Corinth, even in a season of discouragement. And these are three ways we too can be found faithful. Now these are not the only ways, but I believe if we, by God's grace, put on these truths - particularly in seasons of discouragement - when we are tempted to give up, when we're tempted to throw in the towel, we will be found faithful. First of all...
I. Faithful Followers SACRIFICE Personally
There is nothing worth doing in life; there is no making a difference in any profession, in accomplishing any academic pursuit, in any athletic goal apart from some personal sacrifice. You don’t get at the top of whatever hill you’re climbing without hard work, without diligence, without some personal sacrifice. If you think that you’re going to get to heaven and Jesus says, “Well done good and faithful servant”, and you look back and say, “Oh, that wasn’t so hard, a piece of cake. It was kind of like riding the cannonball at Lake Winnie, a little bumpy but overall pretty fun.” I think for the faithful follower of Jesus, you’ll look back and say, there were some hard moments, there were some deep disappointments, there were some dark discouragements, some personal sacrifice was involved. A lot of joys but some struggles. Being found faithful requires some personal sacrifice.
So here’s Paul, he’s come into Corinth 47 miles west of Athens, port City, scholars estimate a population of 200,000 people. A very influential and prosperous city, but as I mentioned before a very morally corrupt city.
We read in the text that upon arriving Paul meets Priscilla and Aquila. These are two believers in Jesus who were recently expelled from Rome because of the decree of Claudius, verse 2. Claudius was the Roman Emperor from 41-54 AD. Roman historians give us insight into the decree of Claudius expelling the Jews from Rome. It had to do with a disruption that was caused in Rome because of the Jews who followed Christ among other Jews. So the emperor expelled all Jews from Rome because of the disturbance. As we saw a couple weeks ago, Christians were turning the world upside down.
So Paul finds Priscilla and Aquila, and by God’s providence they were of the same trade as Paul. Look at verse 3: Because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade. Acts 18:3 – they were tentmakers. The word can be broader than just tentmaker to mean a leatherworker. But the point I want to make is that Paul went into Corinth with the express purpose of sharing the gospel in a dark, lost city. And he was willing to make some personal sacrifice to do so; he was willing to get dirty, to work hard in order to have the opportunity to speak into people’s lives. He’s working with his hands, pounding out animal hides, stretching and stitching the leather to make tents and other goods.
Now think about this – here’s a highly intelligent, well spoken, very well educated Jewish Pharisee. But he’s doing manual labor because it affords him the opportunity to be in this foreign, 1st century sin-city to proclaim the good news of salvation through Jesus.
Illustration: As I thought about this, I was reminded of my friend Jerry Davison, and his personal sacrifice to take the gospel to of all places – the modern day Corinth – Las Vegas. I spoke with Jerry this week and he told me how in 2002 he was working as a manager at Mars Music Store, his wife Cheryl was a nurse. For 3 years God had been stirring a restlessness in their hearts to step out on faith and be on mission with him. One night at their church - FBC Woodstock, GA - they heard about a team that was planning to leave ATL, leave their church move out to Vegas to plant a gospel-preaching church in the most morally corrupt city in the world. The planting team shared all kinds of stats about the lostness in the city and the deep need for the gospel. Jerry told me that he and his wife Cheryl knew right then that this is what God was calling them to, this is what God had been preparing them for. They sold their home in suburban Atlanta, quit their jobs, uprooted their family and moved to Las Vegas with several other families from their church.
Now they had no jobs waiting in Las Vegas, and no home to move into. They had packed up their belongings and sent them ahead to a storage unit. Standing in the driveway saying goodbye to family, about to get in the van to drive cross-country, he gets a call that God has provided them a rent-free place to stay for the first few months they were there.
Time after time God confirmed this call in miraculous ways. They moved there, found jobs, worked, started meeting together, praying together, built relationships and saw God do amazing things as they planted Hope Baptist Church – a church that now, 13 years later is having tremendous influence and impact in sin-city, planting new churches across the west coast, and sending missionaries around the world. But the launch of that church happened 13 years ago because some families like the Davisons sacrificed personally, and have been found faithful.
Listen - being found faithful, even in discouraging seasons, even in hostile surroundings means making some personal sacrifice. How did Paul do it? Paul had a personal conviction that he would NOT receive financial support from those to whom he was ministering at the present time. So when he’s in Corinth, he’s not expecting Corinthians to pay him for his ministry to them. Now in 1 Corinthians 9 he makes it clear to the Corinthians that he had every right and expectation to receive financial remuneration for his ministry in the church there. But he didn’t receive it from them, he didn’t demand that right. Notice what he says in 1 Cor 9: 12We have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ. 13Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings? 14In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel. 1 Corinthians 9:12-14
Paul’s point here is that preachers of the gospel have the right – and he says the command of the Lord – to make their living from their proclamation of the gospel. But when he was in Corinth he didn’t ask that of them. Why not? Because he didn’t want it to be an obstacle in the way of the gospel. He was found faithful because of his personal sacrifice.
Now after Paul had been in Corinth for some time, Silas and Timothy show up. It seems from the language of verse 5 that when they arrived in Corinth he made his fulltime occupation the word of God, studying and preaching the word. Well how was he able to do that? How was he able to support himself and quit working with leather so he could make his full time occupation preaching the word?
Well, we know the answer to that question from the second letter to the Corinthians that we have in the Bible: And when I was with you and was in need, I did not burden anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my need. So I refrained and will refrain from burdening you in any way. 2 Corinthians 11:9
The brothers – that’s Silas and Timothy, brought with them a love offering from the church in Philippi. How do we know it was from the church in Philippi? Look at Philippians 4:15 - And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only. Philippians 4:15
So the church in Philippi that included members like the Philippian jailer, and the wealthy fashionista Lydia, they sent money in support of Paul on his missionary journeys – apparently they were the only church to do so.
Because of this financial support Paul was able to quit the tentmaking and focus full time on preaching. And let me just say, I’m thankful for the support this church provides for me and my family that I might devote myself to the study and preparation and preaching of the word week in and week out. But the point of all this is that we see how Paul worked and sacrificed in order to remove obstacles so that he might be as faithful to the truth as he could possibly be. Being found faithful will require us to sacrifice personally. Here’s the second mark of faithfulness we see…
II. Faithful Followers SPEAK Truthfully
A faithful follower of Christ will speak truthfully. And by that I mean, they say what needs to be said – even when no one wants to hear it. Look at verse 6: And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments [shaking out the garments was an ancient way of saying, “I’m through with you, I’m done with you.”] and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” Acts 18:6
That's a bit of a strange expression there, "Your blood be on your own heads." That's actually an OT biblical expression. Look at Ezekiel 33:
1The word of the LORD came to me: 2“Son of man, speak to your people and say to them, If I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and make him their watchman, 3and if he sees the sword coming upon the land and blows the trumpet and warns the people,4then if anyone who hears the sound of the trumpet does not take warning, and the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. Ezekiel 33:1-4
Understand the analogy. In ancient fortified cities there would be a watchman who looked for enemies to come and lay siege against the city. The watchman's responsibility was to watch, to look for a marauding horde. If he saw attackers coming with the sword, he would blow the trumpet to warn the people. If you didn’t heed the warning of the watchman who blew the trumpet, your blood would be on your own head, because you were warned.
The Lord is saying to Ezekiel, if you blow the trumpet of my warning and they don’t heed, their blood is on their heads. But if you don’t blow the trumpet, their blood is on your head. Paul takes that expression from Ezekiel and says it to the people of Corinth. You want to blaspheme Jesus and his gospel when I as a watchman come to warn you? Your blood be on your own heads.
The same is true of us. All of us have been called to be watchmen on the wall. Being faithful means we speak truthfully. We warn of impending danger; we warn of coming destruction. We saw last week with Paul among the intellectuals he calls them to repent; he warns them of coming judgment. Part of what makes Paul a faithful follower is his willingness to say what needs to be said, the hard things, to speak truthfully.
The watchman sounds the alarm, he speaks the truth, he warns of impending judgment. Now honestly, we may not face persecution like many of our brothers and sisters are facing every day around the world. But we should not underestimate how hard it is to say hard things. How hard is to speak truthfully.
Now there's obvious common sense that's expected in this. You probably wouldn't meet someone for the first time, "Oh nice to meet you. Have you heard about God's eternal judgment which will be poured out in bowls of wrath upon all unrepentant sinners?" There's some trust that must be developed. But when the opportunity is there, when the door is open and you sense the prompting of the Spirit to speak - will you?
Will you be a faithful follower who speaks truthfully? Will you be a faithful follower who sacrifices personally. But finally, here's the third thing...
III. Faithful Followers SURRENDER Humbly
Paul is ready to leave Corinth, he’s shaken the dust out of his garments, he’s thrown down what seems to be his final word to them, “Your blood be on your own heads.” As I mentioned before, he’s discouraged. Now there are a handful of believers in Corinth, but by and large his message has once again been rejected by the people he’s gone to reach.
Now Paul thinks, because of his experience, he knows how this is going to play out. Paul's pattern has been to stay in a town or city for a period of time until the opposition against him escalates to a point that it's so severe his life is in danger. So he says, "Not the best time for me to die yet, I don't think God's finished with me, so let me go to the next town so I don't die." No doubt Paul was intending to leave Corinth. But God intervenes.
And what God intervenes with is a vision in the night where he pronounces to Paul his specific promises. And here's the deal - if you're feeling discouraged, if your faithfulness is being tested the best medicine for a discouraged heart is to recount the promises of God to you. That truth can not be understated. The best solution for a beleaguered soul is recounting the promises of God.
9And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid,
I talked about this at the beginning of the service - is your concept of God one that when he speaks to you his first words are, "Do not be afraid." Is He one who strikes fear in your heart when you consider his greatness? He should! And then he tells Paul, I don't want you to leave, don't throw in the towel on this city, I want you to keep speaking the truth to them. And then he pronounces promises to him that might encourage him to keep on keeping on: The Lord said, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, 10for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.” 11And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.
You might say, "Well if God appeared to me in a vision and miraculously pronounced his promises to me, I might not be discouraged either." I'm here to tell you that God HAS pronounced his promises to you in a much more miraculous way then a vision in the night - he's preserved his promises for you in His inerrant, infallible Word - the Bible.
And notice the promises God speaks to Paul at his lowest point, when he's ready to throw in the towel; three Promises Pronounced in verse 10
His presence - For I am with you. In moments of discouragement, that's a promise to cling to. That God is with you, that he will never leave you or forsake you; as the psalmist declared, "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear NO evil - why? For you are WITH me.
His protection - no one will attack you to harm you. The psalmist continued, "your rod and your staff, they comfort me!" God hides us under the shadow of his wings. Nothing comes into your life that has not first passed through the sovereign, loving hands of God.
His purpose - for I have many in this city who are my people. God is sovereign in salvation. And he tells Paul, although not many have believed the gospel - I have many in this city who are my people, who WILL believe the gospel. And all my purposes will be accomplished. And guess what - you're a part of that purpose. You are the instrument I will use to bring my people to salvation.
He's saying humbly surrender your wants, your desires, your impulses to quit - humbly surrender them to my promises. Promises of my presence, my protection, and my purpose. Christian do you know that God has you here for a purpose? If your heart is beating and your lungs are breathing, God has a purpose for you. And that purpose is that you be found faithful to what he has called you to.
Let me ask you a question - was Jesus Christ found faithful at the end of his ministry? And think about what Christ had to show for his ministry at the end of his life? Not a lot. He would have been considered a failure by a human gauge of success. He was condemned as a criminal, he had 12 straggly followers, one of which betrayed him, another of which denied him, all of which deserted him. The shepherd was struck and the sheep scattered. A handful of women remained hopeful and believed. Not a lot, by the world’s standards of success. But notice how the author of Hebrews summarized Christ’s work in Hebrews 2:17: Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. Hebrews 2:17
Hebrews says he was a faithful high priest. Jesus was faithful. And later on in Hebrews 12, the Scripture gives us this instruction: Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith
Look back over your outline, at those three things that we identified as faithfulness of Paul's life in Corinth. Are these three marks of faithfulness reflected in Jesus' life? If we can say anything about the faithful ministry of Jesus we can say these three things are true of him –
He sacrificed personally - Jesus sacrificed the glory and splendor of heaven and took on human flesh, and ultimately sacrificing his life on the cross to take the penalty for sin, that all who believe in him might be saved.
He spoke truthfully - Jesus said what needed to be said, when it needed to be said, to whom it needed to be said. He faithfully delivered the truth in word and deed.
He surrendered humbly - there in the garden on the night of his arrest, he prayed “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” Luke 22:42
He surrendered humbly to the will of God, trusting the promise that he would not see corruption but would rise from the dead. May we look to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, and run with endurance the race that is set before and in so doing, be found faithful.
Last Thought: Knowing God’s PRESENCE, experiencing God’s PROTECTION, and trusting in God’s PURPOSE will enable you to be found faithful.
