PT-1 "Intro to Acts 18:1-17)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/24/2018 9:31 AM

My Worship Time                                                                      Focus:  PT-1 Intro to Acts 18:1-17

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 18:1-17

            Message of the verses:  “1 After these things he left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 And he found a 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. He came to them, 3 and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and they were working, for by trade they were tent-makers. 4 And he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks. 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. 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."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. 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. 9  And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, "Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent; 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." 11 And he settled there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. 12 But while Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him before the judgment seat, 13 saying, "This man persuades men to worship God contrary to the law." 14 But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, "If it were a matter of wrong or of vicious crime, O Jews, it would be reasonable for me to put up with you; 15 but if there are questions about words and names and your own law, look after it yourselves; I am unwilling to be a judge of these matters." 16 And he drove them away from the judgment seat. 17 And they all took hold of Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and began beating him in front of the judgment seat. But Gallio was not concerned about any of these things.”

            John MacArthur entitles this section from the book of Acts “Encouraging the Servant of God,” and at first I was wondering about that title, but then after reading this section again I figured out that he was talking about God giving encouragement to Paul, as this was a time in Paul’s life where there had been much persecution in his life, and so  Paul surely needed a time when he could just live in a place and teach the Word of God to those that the Lord had given to him to preach to.  I am sure from reading the Scriptures that are about Paul that he went through times of discouragement.  Charles Spurgeon talks about the fact that it is a little appreciated truth about those in ministry, which is Pastors and missionaries who become discouraged:

 “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 of an ailing flock.  (“The Minister’s Fainting Fits,” in Lectures to m Students: First Series [reprint; Grand Rapids:  Baker, 1980], 168).”

Let us take a moment to read about the problems that Moses wrote about when it comes to despair in Numbers 11:11-15:

11 So Moses said to the LORD, "Why have You been so hard on Your servant? And why have I not found favor in Your sight, that You have laid the burden of all this people on me? 12 “Was it I who conceived all this people? Was it I who brought them forth, that You should say to me, ’Carry them in your bosom as a nurse carries a nursing infant, to the land which You swore to their fathers’? 13 “Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me, saying, ’Give us meat that we may eat!’ 14 “I alone am not able to carry all this people, because it is too burdensome for me. 15 “So if You are going to deal thus with me, please kill me at once, if I have found favor in Your sight, and do not let me see my wretchedness."”

            Moses was not the only servant of God to express these kinds of things to the Lord as we next look at what Joshua said after Israel’s defeat at AI.  “7 Joshua said, "Alas, O Lord GOD, why did You ever bring this people over the Jordan, only to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? If only we had been willing to dwell beyond the Jordan! (Jos. 7:7).”  Then there is another one that we can look at and that is one that is familiar to me.  Elijah had a great victory over the prophets of Baal, as he murdered many of them because of what they were doing to Israel, but afterwards he became distressed and ran away from the woman Jezebel. You can read about that incident in 1 Kings 18:20 and following.  It got so bad for Elijah after he ran off into the wilderness that we read in 1 Kings 19:4 “But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree; and he requested for himself that he might die, and said, "It is enough; now, O LORD, take my life, for I am not better than my fathers."”  There are other examples in the Old Testament like Hezekiah who after facing the prospect of death pleaded with the Lord to allow him to live, which the Lord did for him as he added another 15 years to his life.  I suppose the classic OT story comes from the book of Job as he went through some very difficult situations.

            I will end this first part of this introduction to these verses in Acts by quoting a rather long paragraph from MacArthur’s introductory comments on this section in Acts 18.

“Nor did the apostle Paul escape the throes of discouragement.  The opening of Acts 18 finds him at a low point in his grueling ministry.  His second missionary journey had been arduous.  After traveling through Asia Minor ‘strengthening the churches’ (Acts 15:41), he crossed the Aegean Sea to the Greek mainland.  His healing of a demon possessed girl in Philippi sparked a riot, and he and Silas had been beaten and thrown into prison.  After being released following a devastating earthquake, he was forced to leave the city (16:39-40).  From there he went to Thessalonica, where his ministry enjoyed great success (17:4).  Persecution forced him to flee to Berea (17:10), where many also responded to his preaching and teaching (17:12).  When persecution followed him there from Thessalonica, Paul was again forced to escape danger (17:4).  He arrived alone in the great city of Athens, where his brilliant speech in defense of Christianity had largely been ignored (17:19-32).  He then ‘left Athens and went to Corinth,’ a fifty-three mile walk.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It was good to better understand that discouragement can be used by the Lord in a good way, to be able to help others if I am willing to do so.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to see me through some discouragements of my own, and use them to bring glory to the Lord.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Hypocrisy” (Luke 12:2).

Today’s Bible question:  “What was the human name given to Christ?”

Answer in our next SD.

5/24/2018 10:08 AM