Scripture: Acts18:5-17
Fear is one of those human emotions that seem to
drive us into areas that take control of our actions. We can easily lose focus on what we had
intended to accomplish, we begin to react instead of respond - fear can take us
in a direction that is totally outside of our nature. But fear is also something that springs into
our life with practically no warning, and catches us by surprise. The point is that we have to be prepared for
the emergence of fear every time we take those risky steps that can put us in a
dangerous or awkward situation.
And in the context of today’s message, it can even
occur in those times when we are testifying to God’s presence in our life, and
the listener begins to contradict and object to everything we say.
Stress?
Probably! So let’s ask ourselves
this question – what would Paul or one of the other early disciples of Jesus
Christ do in a situation like this?
Read Acts 18:5-8
Paul had begun to proclaim Jesus as a full-time
effort. We remember from a previous
passage that he felt that an evangelist should always be prepared to support
himself, (Acts 18:1-4) but with the
arrival of Silas & Timothy, others were beginning to support him in his
ministry. But there would always be
those who denied the word he was sharing, and opposed him in every way they
could. It would seem that the tables had
turned on this former persecutor of Christians!
And it seems that Paul remembered what the prophet
Ezekiel had to say about this turn of events.
In Ezekiel 33:4,
we read “4 then if anyone hears the trumpet but does not heed the warning and the sword comes and takes their life, their blood
will be on their own head.” The trumpet was an alarm signal that danger
was approaching, and all were to be aware of its meaning. If you heard the warning, but didn’t respond
in the correct way, your demise was your own fault!
And now he was using that same warning for the
Jews of Corinth – that the coming of the Christ was the warning sign that
impending danger was at their doorstep, and that “Jesus” was the only name that
could save them. But since they wouldn’t
listen, he would leave them to their own designs, and would transfer his
ministry to the Gentile people – they were already open to the way of Jesus, so
he would put his time to good use with those who would pay attention to the “trumpet”
of warning. In Matthew 10:13-15,
Jesus prepares his disciples for the mission field - that if they are welcomed,
if others accept the word they are sharing, to stay with them, but if they are
opposed to the word and reject it, to “shake the dust off your feet”
and move on to the next place.
And he is telling us the same thing. If it appears that a person might gain from
our sharing Jesus with them, then stay the course. But if they ridicule the word of Christ, don’t
keep beating your head against the wall of disbelief – move on to the next
opportunity in Jesus.
Read Acts 18:9-13
Don’t be afraid, don’t give up the course! Good words for us all to remember! And the LORD also tells the apostle that he will protect
him from any harm that might come against him because of his witness. Now we have to remember that this was a gift
to Paul, and not a gift to all people for all time! But if God tells us the same thing, it will
be a sign of vast importance to us, indicating that we are moving in the right
direction.
Paul had moved on from the Jews to the Gentiles,
and that was exactly where Jesus wanted him to be. In Corinth, the Gentiles seemed to be more
open to the gospel than the Jews were, so that is where the word was going to produce
more fruit. And the LORD will lead, and guide,
and use us where the going may get rough, but He will see us through it all,
too.
And Paul remained in Corinth, under God’s
protection, for an additional 18 months, proclaiming the word in spite of the
Jews, and unbelieving Gentiles, and all of their threats and divisive actions. And when the Jews finally have him arrested
under false charges, the LORD
would continue to be with him through it all.
Read Acts 18:14-17
And Paul doesn’t even have to speak on his own
behalf, which any accused would be allowed to do. The power of God is at work, in ways he might
never have expected! It appears that the LORD even works through unbelievers when the
situation requires it, and has done so over and over in the past.
One such example is how He used the Persian king Cyrus,
and several successive rulers of the empire, to end the Jewish exile, to free
the people to return to their promised home.
And not only were they allowed to return, they would be given all of the
temple treasures that had been taken after their conquest, the Persian people
were commanded to give money and gold to the Jews to help them on their way, and
they were ever given protection during their journey back to the Promised Land.
(Ezra 1,3-6:13)
There is no limit to the work that the LORD can accomplish!
And God is giving Paul plenty of reasons that he
should never to be afraid. Gallio not
only doesn’t convict Paul and his associates, he dismisses all charges, and
tells the crowd to go away and stop bothering him! Even when the leader of the synagogue is
beaten right in front of him, he does nothing to help him. There is no explanation as to why he would refuse
to try Paul for proclaiming Jesus, while at the same time to ignore the plight
of another converted Jewish leader, EXCEPT to admit that God was at work through
him.
The promise of God is always sure and true – whether
in Paul’s time, or throughout the early days of the church, or in our time, or
until the time of the LORD’s
return for the Judgment – God is the same, and His thoughts and plans are the
same, and His ways will be the same, forever!
That doesn’t mean that we will never experience difficulties, but it
does mean that God will be with us through it all, and that in the faithful way
we respond when it does come down, that it will bring glory to our Almighty God.
Paul knew that as long as he was following in the
footsteps of Jesus that there would never be any cause to fear the plans that
men would contrive. We read in Luke12:4-7 that the only thing we should fear is the chance that hell may be
waiting for us when we die. As we continue
in Luke’s passage, the LORD
goes on to tell us just how much the Father cares about us, and later, in Revelation1:18, we read that He is the one who holds the keys of hell and
death, that He will be the Judge who will decide our eternal future.
God will give us every chance to follow Him, to
listen to his will and word, and to be faithful in all things. But the problem is that we still have to
decide to follow – Remember the song “I
Have Decided to Follow Jesus”? It’s
our choice to make – to never turn back to the old ways, and to follow
faithfully wherever the LORD may take us, or to give control to our old ways of
earth and the fear that can overcome and paralyze us.
Paul had chosen the way of Jesus, and God never
failed him. Which way will be yours
today – the way of fear, or the way of glory?
