Grace SensingTHE TEXT:
Malachi 2:4-9
Jesus in Corinth (The Continuing Adventures of Jesus #32) (KC)
INTRODUCTION
Here is the record of the challenges Paul faced planting the Corinthian church to which Paul wrote at least two letters which now make up the New Testament. This also appears to be one of the longer stints Paul spent in his mission, and given what we read here and in First and Second Corinthians, it appears that it was particularly difficult. Yet, at the center of this text is the Lord Jesus assuring Paul that He is with him, protecting him, and taking dominion. That same Risen Jesus is still with us today.
The Text: “After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth; and found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla…” (Acts 18:1-17).
SUMMARY OF THE TEXT
Paul’s next stop was in Corinth, about 50 miles west of Athens, a two day journey on foot or depending on sailing winds, half a day by sea (Acts 18:1). There, he met Aquila and Priscilla, fellow tent-making Jews, recently expelled from Rome by Caesar Claudius, giving us a timestamp of around 52 A.D. (Acts 18:2-3).
As usual, Paul begins teaching in the synagogue on the sabbaths, teaching both Jews and Greeks, until the Jews become obstinate and Paul leaves (Acts 18:4-6). He begins preaching and teaching in the house of Justus next door to the synagogue, and before long, the ruler of the synagogue is converted along with many others (Acts 18:7-9).
Around that time, Paul received encouragement from the Lord to keep preaching, and he remained for at least a year and a half, until the Jews brought charges against Paul before Gallio (Acts 18:10-13). However, Gallio rejected the charges, and apparently a bunch of the Greeks took matters into their own hands, while Gallio played the politician (Acts 18:14-17).
WORD FROM ROME
We don’t know when the gospel first reached Rome or when Paul first got word of the Christians there, but by this point Paul was apprised by Aquilla and Priscilla, who appear to be early missionaries to Rome/Italy. We have two extra biblical sources (Seutonius and Tacitus) that record this expulsion of the Jews from Rome (~51-52 A.D.) over the tumult caused by a Jewish man named “Chrestus,” almost certainly a misspelling of “Christ.” The trouble that Paul faced in many of the cities he preached was the same in other places.
CONSTRAINED SPIRIT
When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia (Thessalonica), Paul “constrained his spirit” or was “constrained by the Spirit” to preach the gospel. Some translations have “word” instead of “spirit,” but the overall point is that at this point he fully occupied himself with the ministry and less tentmaking. This may imply that Silas and Timothy worked or brought provisions allowing Paul to devote himself to that ministry continuously. This was important because the opposition was fierce, and as usual, there came a breaking point with many of the Jews, and Paul took his ministry to the house of Justus. As he does so, Paul cites God’s instructions to Ezekiel, saying, “your blood be upon your own heads” (Acts 18:6). God set Ezekiel as a “watchman” to warn Israel in captivity of their evil ways; if Ezekiel warned them, then their blood was on their own heads, but if he failed to warn them, God promised to require their blood of Ezekiel (Ez. 3:18-21, 33:1-9).
JESUS RULING IN CORINTH
Even in the midst of this division and controversy, the ruler of the synagogue and others became Christians (Acts 18:8). But that was likely to fuel even more trouble, and we are sometimes tempted to be satisfied with small victories. So the Lord encouraged Paul to keep preaching (Acts 18:9-10), assuring him not to fear and not to quiet down, promising to be with him, protect him, and insisting that there were still many in Corinth that belong to Him (Acts 18:10). Part of this promise is fulfilled by how Gallio dismissed the charges brough against Paul by the Jews, potentially giving Christians a significant legal precedent (Acts 18:14-16), even though it becomes clear that Gallio is likely just being a politician (Acts 18:17).
APPLICATIONS
When Jesus ascended into Heaven, He promised to be with us always, even to the end of the world (Mt. 28:20). But He is not just with us vaguely or generally, He promises to be with His people in particular places. And this promise cannot be disconnected from His authority. He is able to be with us because all authority in Heaven and on Earth was given to Him. But how did He get that authority? By His death and resurrection. He purchased the Church with His blood (Acts 20:28, cf. 1 Cor. 6), and by His resurrection inherited all the nations of the world (Ps. 2:7-12).
Therefore, the Lord Jesus encouraged Paul both with the promise that He would be with him to protect him and the insistence that many people in Corinth were His. And the one promise was for the sake of the other. Christ was with Paul so that His people in Corinth might repent and believe. And this is still true today. For all who know Christ, He promises to be with you in every circumstance, protecting you, and all for the sake of the mission.
Our job is to be content with obedience. “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath saith, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Heb. 13:5). Ministers and teachers must be faithful to the Word no matter what, faithful watchmen warning our cities, content with whatever comes, and all Christians must trust Christ and obey Him, resting in His sovereign care.
The Pickle God Puts Us In
INTRODUCTION
Starting a project is one thing, and finishing it is another. For this reason, the wise preacher said that the end of a thing is better than its beginning (Ecclesiastes 7:8).
SUMMARY OF THE TEXT
Haggai 1:1-15
At the decree of Cyrus, 50,000 exiles returned to Jerusalem in 539 B.C. They quickly got to work laying the foundation of the temple and the altar. But the work slowed as the people began to mind their own affairs. Darius I came to rule the Persian Empire. And in his second year, 520 B.C., some nineteen years after the exiles returned, God spoke to His people in Jerusalem by the prophet Haggai. The Lord spoke particularly to Zerubbabel, the governor, and Joshua, the high priest, noting that the people said the time had not come that the LORD’s house should be built (v. 2).
To this sentiment, the LORD asked if it was time for His people to live in paneled houses while the temple lay in waste (v. 4). He told them to consider their ways for they had sown plenty but reaped little. They ate and drank but were not full. They clothed themselves but remained cold. And they earned money only to have it fall through the hole in their wallets (v. 6). Again, He tells them to consider their ways (v. 7). If they would haul down the wood from the mountain and build the LORD’s house, then He would take pleasure in it and be glorified (v. 8). That would fix the problem they faced, which was God blowing away all of their profit to the wind (v. 9). Why would God do such a thing? Because they left His house in waste while they each ran off to see to their own house instead (v. 9). They had bitten the hand that feeds, and the result was no rain, no corn, no wine, no oil, no milk, no steak (v. 11).
The governor, priest, and all of the people obeyed the voice of the LORD and feared Him (v. 12). God replied by saying that He was with them (v. 13). Then, the LORD stirred them and twenty-three days after the LORD’s rebuke, you could hear the sound of construction on the temple mount in Jerusalem (v. 14).
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
This is an age-old story of unfinished business. The man started well, but something went awry. Ah, the lot of being temporal creatures. We must start, endure, and finish. The Galatians stumbled in the same way these returned exiles did—”Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?” (Galatians 5:7).
In the case of the exiles, you have to remember what they had accomplished. They had come a long way out of Babylon. Then, of course, they had established the foundational thing, the temple foundation itself. And they had the most essential thing. The altar, from which the seraphim, like our Lord, cleanse the lips of men. These were not exactly prodigal sons rolling around with the pigs. They had given to the building campaign. But they had grown slack and distracted.
PROPHETIC MERCY
God interrupted them. And it is the kindness of the Lord to be so deep into our business. There they were, neglecting the Lord, painting the house, carrying on with their weekly routine, and up walks Haggai with all of his questions, “Hey, why do you work so hard only to lose your money?” The quicker you call Nathan’s feet blessed when he walks up to you to remind you about your Bathsheba, the better off you will be. The welcomed rebuke is distinctly Christian. The only people who can do it are those who have had their sins forgiven and know it.
WHY NO STEAK?
The LORD asks the question and answers it. After telling them they have toiled and reaped no fruit, He asks, “Why?” The answer is because His house lies waste (v. 9). Here is a central truth: This is God’s world and He brings the growth. More to the point is the word from Solomon, “Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine” (Proverbs 3:9-10).
Honor comes from the heart. The text does not say, “Slip the Lord a twenty and you will receive twenty-five in return.” You will get nowhere pulling the Lord’s lever like some divinity slot machine. The point is that you must honor Him top to bottom, lips and pocketbook, children and business, from Dan to Beersheba. When you do, the Lord sends the blessing rain. When you don’t, He turns off the faucet.
GOD’S METHOD OF OPERATION
Our passage displays a clear method for God’s operation. He delivered His Word of correction (v. 1-11). The people obeyed in fear (v. 12). The LORD assured them of His presence (v. 13). He stirred them to work (v. 14). His way is: Word, Obedient Fear, Presence for Blessing, Work. There are multiple ways to jumble things, but one major error is to look at joyful and flourishing saints and seek to emulate their good works apart from obedient fear. Do that and you will end up in just the situation in which the returned exiles found themselves. You will neglect the LORD, His kingdom, and His Christ for the sake of your own affairs. The reason those saints are so joyful and productive is that they hear the Word and obey in fear.
That fear is only found in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the glorious one. Away from Him is darkness, obscurity, lack, the bottomless void. But, look to Him and it is transformation, from one degree of glory to the next (2 Corinthians 3:18).
The Levite’s Concubine (Judges #19) (CCD)
Knowing God (The Continuing Adventures of Jesus #31) (KC)
INTRODUCTION
All religion tends to fall into one of two ditches: imagining an immanent god(s) embedded in the universe and nature or else an utterly transcendent god who is impersonal and ultimately unknowable. Greek philosophy and religion had lurched from the old immanent gods to transcendent principles. But the Bible declares the true God who is outside of creation, and who has freely revealed Himself in His Word and through Creation and in His Son. The true God is utterly distinct from all of creation, and yet He has made Himself known so that we might truly know Him and walk with Him. This is what Jesus is talking about when He says that He is the Good Shepherd (Jn. 10:11-16).
The Text: “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands…” (Acts 17:24-34).
SUMMARY OF THE TEXT
Paul declares that the “unknown God” is the God who made the world is therefore Lord of heaven and earth (Acts 17:24). This means that He cannot be contained or summoned by the hands of men, since He is the source of all life, but He appoints their times and places so that groping about, they might find Him who is not far from every one of us (Acts 17:25-27). Paul quotes Cleanthes, the Stoic successor of Zeno, saying that we live and move and have our being in God, as well as the Greek poet Aratus and his poem Phaenomena saying that we are God’s offspring/family (Acts 17:28). And that being the case, we ought not think that deity can be adequately represented in images made by man (Acts 17:29). God overlooked all of this ignorance in the past, but now He is commanding everyone to repent since He has appointed a day and a Judge whom He raised from the dead (Acts 17:30-31). At the mention of the resurrection some mocked, some were intrigued, and some believed (Acts 17:32-34).
IGNORANT VS. TRUE WORSHIP
Paul identifies three misconceptions that characterize “ignorant worship”: that God dwells in temples made with hands (Acts 17:24), that God needs to be served by human hands (Acts 17:25), or thinking that God is like something we can make (Acts 17:29). Instead, God is the Maker and Lord of heaven and earth, He does not need anything but gives all things life, and He has crafted His personal and living image in us from the one blood of Adam.
One of the laws of universe is that you become like what you worship (Ps. 115:8). This is implied by the “blind-groping” of the pagans that Paul refers to: those who worship blind idols become like them (cf. Ps. 135:16). But the God who made heaven and earth also made from one man’s blood all the nations of the earth to be His family, and we know we are His family because we bear His image: eyes that see, ears that hear, hands that handle (Gen. 1:27-28). Those who worship idols become like them, but those who worship the living God outside of creation receive more life, and movement, and being from Him and in Him. This Creator-creature distinction is why the true God can only be worshiped by faith. This is what we mean when we say that we lift up our hearts to the Lord. He wants us to taste and see that He is far better than all of His gifts.
A GRAB BAG OF APPLICATIONS
1. There is always the temptation to idolatry. The transcendent God reaches down and meets us in His way, and we ought to receive His gifts in faith. But we do not hold God in those gifts (whether creation, temple, sacraments, church buildings, or rituals). In a culture of rootlessness, many are attracted to ancient liturgies and icons for a “religious experience.” But God is not like gold or silver. True worship constantly looks to the Giver.
2. This is God’s world, and everything true and good and beautiful proclaims Him, even if sometimes unwittingly. Cleanthes was talking about Zeus, but Paul applied it to the true God. God appoints all of our times and places so that we might find Him. His invisible attributes are clearly seen in all of creation, and those who blasphemously claim they would believe in God if He would only show Himself only reveal their willful blindness.
3. God is sovereign over every detail for good. God has appointed the times and places so that we might find Him. Our sin blinds us, but God so loved the world that He sent His only Son. God’s overarching plan is to save the world. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. The sovereignty of God teaches us to fear God in reverence, but it also teaches us to love God for His goodness. By the eyes of faith, God does all things well.
4. The Judge is our Savior. The Bible teaches both of these truths, and Paul preaches them both here: everyone must stand before the judgment of God in which every excuse will flee away and every secret revealed and yet the faithfulness of God has been revealed in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Death is coming for us all, and then the judgment. For those who know Christ, this is not a terrible thing at all because we know the Judge and He has already signed our pardon with His blood.
5. The center of the gospel message is where Paul lands. Many, even many Christians, might think Paul was doing well until he got to this point. Maybe Paul should have stuck with bridge building and affirming common ground and waited for the right moment to bring up the resurrection of the dead – a hard doctrine, offensive to Stoics and Epicureans. But the central task of the Church is to testify that Jesus is risen from the dead. Some mock, some are curious, and some believe and cling to the message. It has always been this way, and we worship the Wisdom that has determined to save the world in this way.
CONCLUSION
The Athenians brought Paul to be examined at their great judgment seat, but little did they know that the God of Heaven had sent Paul to examine them by His sovereign Word. And the same is true today. Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. The Good Shepherd has come for His sheep. He knows His sheep, and His sheep hear His voice and they know Him.
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