"Provided for in Corinth"
February 15, 2009
Pastor Phil Stevenson
Date: February 15, 2009 - WEFC
Sermon Title: "Provided for in Corinth"
Text: Acts 18: 1-17
Introduction:
Turn in your Bibles to Acts 18. I'd like to read the first 17 verses before I pray.
Read Acts 18:1: "After this Paul left Athens,..."
18:1 This refers to Paul's experience before the Areopagus where Paul introduced the leading men of Athens to the God they had labeled "the unknown god." After he went out from their midst and was joined by some men who believed "among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.
Read Acts 18:1-17.
Pray: Lord, I need your help this morning to clearly articulate the wonder of your character and the goodness of your heart toward us. You are a supernatural being so far superior for us to comprehend and yet you have made known your character to us through your word. Will you, by your Spirit, open the eyes of our hearts so that we might see you today? Show us how to respond to your faithful provision for us in our lives. Amen.
As I prayed about what the Lord would have me emphasize this morning from the text I kept coming back to one very simple lesson: Our God is a God who provides. Now this is probably not the primary message of this text. The primary message of this text is to show us that God's mission of spreading the gospel and making disciples of Jesus Christ in all nations is expanding to one of the most prominent cities of the day. The message of forgiveness and life through faith in Jesus Christ is invading the world of Corinth through God's appointed apostle, Paul. This is a worldly city. It's a city filled with intellectual pride and sinful immorality. As we can tell from reading the two letters of 1st and 2nd Corinthians, it was not an easy place to start a church. But even so, the gospel's power was displayed through the establishment of a church filled with people who experienced the display of some extraordinary spiritual gifts. Acts 18 is primarily a record of how God used Paul to establish this church. This is probably Luke's primary reason for writing this portion of Acts. It shows the continued expansion of the gospel to the ends of the earth as Acts 1:8 foretold.
But behind that primary reason I see another lesson that is worthy of our acknowledgement. And it is that the way in which this church is established is through the clear and repeated provision of God. This is the landscape that becomes the backdrop for the focus of the text. It's sort of like a painting. The focal point of this Acts 18 painting is the emergence of a church in Corinth. It's the salvation of people who are being rescued out of a dark, perverted, worldly city and being made into a church, the Body of Christ, a shining light for the glory of God among this worldly city. That's the main focus. But behind it is the backdrop of God's provision. The point of the picture could be made even without the backdrop, but it wouldn't be nearly as spectacular.
This morning rather than drawing your attention to the obvious point of the picture, God's saving power of Corinthian sinners, I want to show you the backdrop that makes it all possible, the less significant but very necessary, colors and hues of God's provision.
First let's simply take note of the many ways that God provides for his apostle in this portion of his mission. Then we'll try and make a couple of points of application of how we should respond in our experiences to the provision of God.
1. God's Provision is Plentiful and Specific.
Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. His experience at the Areopagus did not allow him to have continued access to the people of Athens A way for the gospel was not made clear for him to stay and spend time establishing a church there. And so he left Athens and went to Corinth. His companions Timothy and Silas were not with him, yet. They were still in Macedonia establishing the fellowship in Berea. Alone in Corinth, God provided a significant relationship in the husband and wife team of Priscilla and Acquila. Here we see the first of God’s provisions: employment, a means of income. Priscilla and Acquila were tentmakers, as was Paul. This is probably how they met. Paul was looking for work and the Lord provided a job. ut not only a job but Christian partners. These were two people who were, as Paul describes in Romans 16:3, his “fellow-workers in Christ Jesus, who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks but all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks as well.” Obviously, Priscilla and Acquila had given themselves completely to Paul and his mission and a bond was so firmly established between them that in the future they would willingly risk their lives for Paul. God’s provision was plentiful and specific. He provided employment and daily provision as well as a friendship and partnership in the gospel work that would prove to be deep and lasting.
God provided ministry opportunities. Every Sabbath Paul would go to the synagogue and reason with the Jews and God-fearing Greeks trying to persuade them that Jesus was the Messiah. During the week Paul would be working but on the Sabbath he took advantage of the Synagogue services to preach and teach about Jesus. And then God provided a gift from the churches in Macedonia so that he could give himself over to preaching and teaching more regularly. When verse 5 says Timothy and Silas arrived from Macedonia, we learn from 2 Cor. 11:9 that when Paul was in need, “the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied his need.” This then allowed Paul to most likely spend the majority of his time preaching and teaching. So God provided again.
God also provided converts. Two men are mentioned specifically: Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue and Titius Justus, who lived next door. When most of the Jews did not respond to Paul’s gospel message of Jesus, Paul turned his attention to the Gentiles and God provided a place to meet right next door to the synagogue. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized.
Do you see the plentiful and specific provisions of the Lord? Employment, fellow-workers in the mission, opportunities to preach, provisions to meet his needs, and converts to be baptized. God is providing everything needed to make a church.
But it’s obvious that Paul must have felt some fear and anxiety. When things get to this point in the ministry, this is about the time when the shoe falls, the opposition arises, the mob begins to form. Paul must have been feeling a bit fearful. Here we can see the truth of Paul’s personality. He’s not super human. In fact in 1 Cor. 2:3 he says, “And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling…” Just like anyone Paul had bouts with doubt and fear and anxiety. But again in these moments God provided. He provided encouragement. (Read 18:9.) Not only would he provide him with the assurance of His protection but he also provided him encouragement about his success.
What a great perspective to have! When God looks upon a city or an island or a region where his gospel is being preached he sees those whom he has foreknown and predestined to be called and justified. God looked at Corinth and says don’t lose heart Paul, there are many in this city who are my people. You are my chosen vessel to proclaim the gospel message that will cause them to believe. Do not give up! Do not lose hope! Do not be afraid, I am with you! Do not stop speaking! Do not be silent! As you preach they will respond because they are my people. Oh how we need to see this island that way. There are people who are God’s people here. We need the provision of God’s encouragement to no lose heart.
And then when the opposition did arise God provided Paul with protection. (Read 18:12-17.) This was not only physical protection for Paul but also it legitimized the church and the Christian faith as a legitimate religion just as much as Judaism. What an amazingly resourceful God we have.
God’s provision was plentiful and specific. When there was need of work God provided employment. When there was need of people God provided co-laborers. When there was need for finances, God provided gifts from the Macedonian brothers churches. When there was need of ministry opportunities God provided the synagogue and the door next store. When there was need of a Church God provided converts. When there was need for encouragement, God provided a vision and a reminder that He is sovereign and omniscient. When there was need of protection, God provided even through unbelieving officials so that the work of the ministry and the legitimacy of the gospel could be preached throughout the city.
All of these provisions serve the primary focus of the establishment of the Church of Jesus in Corinth. And so it should be with all of us. We must never fall into the temptation of treasuring the provisions of God so that they become the focus of our painting. They are given so that Jesus Christ and His church on this island and around the world is the most prominent feature of our lives. So how should we respond to the plentiful and specific provision of God in our lives? Let me give you 2 very practical responses.
1. Give Thanks for Past Provisions.
The OT admonition to remember is often linked with giving thanks. As we reflect on the mighty works of God, the provision of his hand we should respond with giving thanks. This is what David sang when he worshiped the Lord: 1Chron. 16:8-12. Giving thanks for God’s past provisions makes known His deeds among the nations. The purpose of God’s provision in the past is to give us reason to make known His deeds among the nations and by doing so others will see His glorious character of love and mercy, grace and kindness, strength and power.
Psalm 100. Why should we enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. BECAUSE (that’s what for means, here’s the reason:) The Lord is good. His steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations. Past and future.
1 Thess. 5:18 In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. In every situation as you look back and reflect, even in the moment, we are encouraged to give thanks. There is always something to be thankful for.
I have had the privilege of watching two beautiful examples of this this past week in my mom and dad and in Don and Jeanette Hill.
Thursday evening after my mom had come out of her surgery we were gathered in her room. The doctor had just told her that the arterial bypass and transplant had not worked and that the next option would be amputation. We had talked it through and were considering what was next. My Mom and Dad – “For better, for worse. This is the worse.” (Mom) “No this is not the worse. It’s not the best but it’s not the worst. Things could be much worse.” (Dad) That’s a heart of thanksgiving in the midst of difficult circumstances and points to the reality of God’s provision at all times.
It’s the same kind of thing we celebrated yesterday with Don and Jeanette – Let’s celebrate all that God has blessed us with!! We remember and give thanks for past provisions so that God might be glorified and that Jesus might be magnified. I believe this is what Paul means when he writes, “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen.
And so as we give thanks for all that has been provided in the past from Him and through Him we show that they are also to Him.
But there is a second response to God’s plentiful and specific provision that is required of us. And that is…Let the realities of past provisions be the fuel for faith in future provisions.
2. Live by Faith in Future Provisions.
When we are discouraged, when we are uncertain about the future, the realities of God’s provision in the
Past should fuel are faith in God’s future provisions. God has an infinite reservoir of provision. It’s called grace. And that grace is available to all who by faith in Jesus Christ have been adopted as one of His children. Believers in Jesus Christ have available to them an endless supply of God’s provision. There is nothing that you will lack if you are a Christian. Hard to believe?
Listen to these promises:
Rom. 8:31-32: “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
Phil. 4:19: My God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
If that verse isn’t clear enough for you, how about 2 Cor. 9:8: “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may about in every good work.”
Let me encourage you with one more text -- Hebrews 4:14-16: “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”
List of verses specifically dealing with anxiety:
See Future Grace Booklet.
Everyone of these verses are rooted in the truth that because of what Christ has done for us in the past we can have faith that God will provide for us in the future. He is our security our surety for future provision. Therefore we must live by faith that God will provide. In so doing we once again point to the magnificence and sufficiency of Jesus Christ to provide all that is necessary for us.
Conclusion:
Your life, my life has a main focus. It’s the grandeur of God’s gospel being communicated through us to a lost and dying world. Has Christ become the Focal point of your Life’s painting? The focus is and always should be this gospel that Jesus has made right by his coming as a man, his perfect and sinless life lived, his substitutionary death for us, his resurrection that gives us eternal hope and life, and his ascension to heaven where he reigns on high, by all this he has made right all that has been made wrong by our sin, rebellion, selfishness, and idolatry. This should always be the focus of our lives. But the backdrop behind it all should be the unmerited, gracious display of God’s provision in our lives.
May we always give thanks for His many provisions of the past and always live by faith in His provision as we step forward into the future. In Christ all of this becomes our masterpiece.
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