Acts 18:18 - 28

Chris Estes

Acts • Sermon • Submitted 4 years ago

Acts 18:18–28

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Last week we looked at God’s provision for Paul in Corinth, from the gift he recieved for Macedonia to the conversion of the Leader of the Synagogue, or the fact that the Proconsul wouldn’t abide the trumped up charges. All of these things and many more allowed Paul to stay and minister for 18 months. The point if you’ll remember though isn’t that God will always provide an easy path, we know Paul is in for some real difficulties as he himself describes in Chapter 20. The point is God is always true to His word. We can trust that whether it is a call on all Christians through his word such as the great commission, or a specific calling to an individual of family the Lord will provide all He has promised to accomplish His purposes. And whether they lead to hardship or glory here and now we can be confident alongside Paul that the gospel of the grace of God and its proclamation must be our focus now and as long as we have here on earth. Blank check

Background:

The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version (2015 Edition) Chapter 18

18:19 Ephesus. Although previously prevented by the Holy Spirit from evangelizing this major city in the province of Asia, Paul now preaches Christ in the synagogue, anticipating a longer ministry to come “if God wills” (v. 21). See ch. 19, 20.

The Lexham Bible Dictionary Ephesus

EPHESUS (Ἔφεσος, Ephesos). On the west coast of Asia Minor. Made the capital of the Roman province of Asia Minor by Augustus (27 BC—AD 14). Ephesus is the setting for Acts 19. Paul taught daily there for two years (Acts 19:9). The elders from Ephesus came to see Paul on his last journey to Jerusalem (Acts 20:17–18), and in 1 Cor 15:32, Paul says that he fought the beasts there. The city was originally founded ca. 1000 BC by the Greeks. It came under Roman control in 133 BC.

Text:

English Standard Version Chapter 18

Paul Returns to Antioch

18 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.

So our friends Pricilla and Aquilla leave Corinth and the church there after serving with Paul for 18 months and will eventually land in Ephesus where they will host the second of their three house churches

The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version (2015 Edition) Chapter 18

18:18 he was under a vow. Though this phrase could apply to Aquila, it is probably Paul who is in view. The Nazirite vow requires rigorous ceremonial purity that are impractical in Gentile lands (Num. 6:1–21), so this vow is more likely a private one undertaken by Paul as a religious exercise. The hair is allowed to grow during the period of the vow, and cutting it marks the conclusion of the vow and is perhaps an expression of gratitude to God (21:23, 24). Paul’s vow shows that, despite the accusations that jealous Jewish leaders have brought to the proconsul, he exercises his Christian freedom by occasionally observing Mosaic ceremonial ordinances even as he brings God’s good news to the Gentiles (1 Cor. 9:19–23).

English Standard Version Chapter 18

19 And they came to Ephesus, and he left them there, but he himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. 20 When they asked him to stay for a longer period, he declined. 21 But on taking leave of them he said, “I will return to you if God wills,” and he set sail from Ephesus.

So unlike Corinth Paul is just passing through here, as I mentioned earlier he will be back, but this is a short visit by Paul.

He does however leave behind Pricilla and Aquilla, so the city will not be without gospel workers in his absence.

English Standard Version Chapter 18

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

The New American Commentary: Acts 8. Returning to Antioch (18:18–22)

Possibly Paul was hurrying to Jerusalem to complete his vow. Whatever his purposes, his ship landed at Caesarea, the port for Jerusalem. He then “went up” and greeted “the church,” then “down” to Antioch (v. 22). “The church” referred to is almost certainly Jerusalem. It was traditional language to speak of going “up” to the holy city, which sat high on Mt. Zion. Paul’s second mission finally ended with his return to the congregation that had sent him forth

The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version (2015 Edition) Chapter 18

18:23 some time there. Paul is in Antioch for several months, from about autumn of A.D. 52 to spring of A.D. 53.

The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version (2015 Edition) Chapter 18

Galatia and Phrygia. Paul starts his third missionary journey in the Phrygian part of Galatia in central Asia Minor, near the Pisidian towns in which he and Barnabas planted churches on their first trip several years before.

Application:

What struck me reading these verses was Paul’s tenacity. He moves from mission field to mission field facing hardship and opposition that would lay most of us flat on our backs. For sure he is not alone in being empowered by the Holy Spirit to persevere in a ministry.

In April, 1831, Charles Simeon was 71 years old. He had been the pastor of Trinity Church, Cambridge, England, for 49 years. He was asked one afternoon by his friend, Joseph Gurney, how he had surmounted persecution and outlasted all the great prejudice against him in his 49-year ministry. He said to Gurney:

My dear brother, we must not mind a little suffering for Christ’s sake. When I am getting through a hedge, if my head and shoulders are safely through, I can bear the pricking of my legs. Let us rejoice in the remembrance that our holy Head has surmounted all His suffering and triumphed over death. Let us follow Him patiently; we shall soon be partakers of His victory” (H.C.G. Moule, Charles Simeon, London: InterVarsity, 1948, 155f.).

So what had Pastor Simeon suffered?

Simeon was appointed to lead Trinity Church in Cambridge at 23 years old.

But the parishioners did not want Simeon. They wanted the assistant curate Mr. Hammond. Simeon was willing to step out, but then the Bishop told him that even if he did decline the appointment he would not appoint Hammond. So Simeon stayed — for fifty-four years! And gradually — very gradually — overcame the opposition.

The first thing the congregation did in rebellion against Simeon was to refuse to let him be the Sunday afternoon lecturer. This was in their charge. It was like a second Sunday service. For five years they assigned the lecture to Mr. Hammond, and paid him twice what Simeon was making. Then when he left, instead of turning it over to their pastor of five years they gave it to another independent man for seven more years! Finally, in 1794, Simeon was chosen lecturer. Imagine serving for 12 years a church who were so resistant to your leadership they would not let you preach Sunday evenings, but hired as assistant to keep you out.

Simeon tried to start a later Sunday evening service and many townspeople came. But the churchwardens locked the doors while the people stood waiting in the street. Once Simeon had the doors opened by a locksmith, but when it happened again he pulled back and dropped the service.

The second thing the church did was to lock the pew doors on Sunday mornings. The pewholders refused to come and refused to let others sit in their personal pews. Simeon set up seats in the aisles and nooks and corners at his own expense. But the churchwardens took them out and threw them in the churchyard. When he tried to visit from house to house, hardly a door would open to him. This situation lasted at least ten years. The records show that in 1792 Simeon got a legal decision that the pewholders could not lock their pews and stay away indefinitely. But he didn’t use it. He let his steady, relentless ministry of the word and prayer and community witness gradually overcome the resistance.

But I mustn’t give the impression that all the troubles were over after the first 12 years. After years of peace, in 1812 (after he had been there 30 years!) there were again opponents in the congregation making the waters rough. Who of us would not have immediately concluded at age 53, after thirty years in one church that an upsurge of opposition is a sure sign to move on? But again he endured patiently and in 1816 he writes that peace had come and the church is better attended than ever.

And as if this wasn’t enough In 1807, after twenty-five years of ministry, his health failed suddenly. His voice gave way so that preaching was very difficult and at times he could only speak in a whisper. After a sermon he would feel “more like one dead than alive.” This broken condition lasted for thirteen years, till he was sixty years old. In all this time Simeon pressed on in his work.

The way this weakness came to an end is remarkable and shows the amazing hand of God on this man’s life. He tells the story that in 1819 he was on his last visit to Scotland. As he crossed the border he says he was “almost as perceptibly revived in strength as the woman was after she had touched the hem of our Lord’s garment.” His interpretation of God’s providence in this begins back before his weakness. Up till then he had promised himself a very active life up to age sixty, and then a Sabbath evening. Now he seemed to hear his Master saying:

So at sixty years of age, Simeon renewed his commitment to his pulpit and the mission of the church and preached vigorously for 17 more years, until two months before his death. Do this day they gather annually at Trinity Church to celebrate his life.

We each have a ministry like Paul’s or Pastor Simeon’s and the ability through reliance on the Holy Spirit to persevere in it.

1 Corinthians 12:4–11 4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually has he wills.

So what ever your calling is, Genesis often tells the boys her job is to keep them safe and teach them about Jesus the Holy Spirit will empower you to persevere. We do however need to surrender to him, a chair can’t hold you weight unless you sit in it, you can try to hold yourself a few inches off the seat, but it won’t be long before you fail. Trust in the promises of scripture and walk obediently no matter the obstacles.