Gospel Ministry in an Immoral Culture

The fact that the ruler of the synagogue was converted adds force to the truth that the gospel is powerful enough to transform anyone (Rom 1:16). To put Crispus’s conversion in modern terms, we might imagine that Christian missionaries enter a hostile Muslim context and slowly build relationships with the people there. In time they are introduced to a local imam, and after a series of conversations, that Muslim leader becomes a Christian! Is such a thing really possible? Yes! Because the gospel is true and life changing.

The work in Corinth started off rather slowly (especially during the tent-making phase), but over time Paul’s ministry produced fruit. This is a great indicator that we need to take the long view in terms of evaluating ministry effectiveness. Though it’s sometimes difficult to maintain patience in this fast-food, microwave culture, where we want to see immediate results, we will need to go through slow seasons before seeing fruit. So keep being faithful to the mission, and ask God to bless your efforts.

Acts 18:9-10

Despite such remarkable success in outreach, Paul’s confidence seems to evaporate by verse 9. He acknowledges his weakness in 1 Corinthians 2:3, and his condition is evident from the Lord’s word of encouragement here.

Paul seems to be ready to quit at this point, even after great fruitfulness. Given his previous trials in general and his trials in Corinth in particular, maybe Paul was too tired to enjoy these evangelistic blessings. So was Paul experiencing what some call burnout? That theory is possible because when we’re overworking, we tend to find it difficult to delight in our work.

We will never know all the reasons for Paul’s condition here, but what most blesses me when I read this passage is that even the apostle Paul needed encouragement in order to press on.

Up to this point Paul’s missionary visits have been relatively brief due to opposition. But this time the Lord encourages Paul’s spirit through a gentle rebuke, a strong mandate, and some sovereign promises. Paul needed these in order to remain in Corinth.

In verse 9 the Lord tells Paul something he has been saying to his people for centuries: “Don’t be afraid.” We sometimes think of Paul being immune to fear. But apparently the opposition and Corinthian context frightened him. He wasn’t the first messenger to need the gentle rebuke about not being fearful, and he wasn’t the last to need it either. Paul was like a boxer that needed his corner man to encourage him to get back in the ring and go another round.

How loving of the Lord to speak to Paul in this vision! Kent Hughes comments on the Lord’s grace here:

The vision and its opening words—the fact that God made the effort to encourage Paul not to fear—meant that God loved and cared for his ambassador. This assurance ministered to Paul’s heart, just as 1 John 4:18 teaches us: “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear.” The simple words in the vision filled Paul’s heart with God’s love, and fear was put to flight. Time and time again the Scriptures tell us to fear not—to stop worrying about tomorrow, to stop borrowing trouble—because we are divinely loved, and God’s love is enough! (Acts,241–42)

As followers of Christ, we don’t need to fear man because the sovereign King cares for us. The psalmist says,

When I am afraid,

I will trust in you.

In God, whose word I praise,

in God I trust; I will not fear.

What can mere mortals do to me? . . .

This I know: God is for me.

In God, whose word I praise,

in the Lord, whose word I praise,

in God I trust; I will not be afraid.

What can mere humans do to me? (Ps 56:3-4,9-11)

God loves his people. We can trust him. We have no reason to fear humans.

In the face of intimidation, Paul is told by the Lord to open his mouth and boldly proclaim the truth (cf. Eph 6:18-20). This suggests that Paul went through a season in which he was tempted to be silent, though that’s difficult to imagine! Whatever was behind his state of mind here, he needed to be told to keep on speaking about the Messiah because only through hearing about Jesus can people come to faith in Jesus (cf. Rom 10:17).

The Lord doesn’t tell Paul to keep on speaking because Paul is so good at it. Elsewhere, Paul mentions the brother who is “praised among all the churches for his gospel ministry” (2 Cor 8:18), suggesting some other preachers were more gifted than he. Paul obviously had remarkable gifts, but that’s not the primary reason the Lord gives this mandate here. Instead, God told him to speak because Jesus was gathering a people in Corinth. And what he was doing in that city wasn’t about Paul; it was about fulfilling the Lord’s own will. God delights in using the weak to accomplish his purposes and to magnify himself (cf. 2 Cor 12:9-10).

Many Christians aren’t afraid to serve, but they are afraid to speak. And many assume they’re not gifted enough or powerful enough for the Lord’s work of making the gospel known. Even Paul experienced timidity and weakness. But in spite of this, the Lord commissioned him—not because of his oratorical gifts and his commanding presence. So be encouraged! The Lord uses ordinary, fragile people (2 Cor 4:7). Cast your insufficiencies on the Lord’s totally sufficiency, and you will find that weakness is the secret strength of God’s ambassadors.

The Lord first promises Paul this: “I am with you.” This guarantee of God’s presence basically repeats Jesus’s words in the Great Commission (Matt 28:20). This same promise was made during the callings of Moses (Exod 3:2-12), Joshua (Josh 1:1-9), and Jeremiah (Jer 1:5-10). Because the Lord is with his servants, they can persevere in the mission.

The second promise was unique to Paul’s situation: no one would attack Paul to harm him. In other cities Paul was attacked and harmed, but in this location the Lord made a promise of protection that would cover him throughout a certain window of time (Hughes, Acts, 243).

While we can’t claim this protection of an attack-free witness, we too can be certain that our lives and times are in the Lord’s hands. We can trust him in every situation. We can be assured that Romans 8:28 is true for every believer!

The final promise assured Paul of the Lord’s sovereignty in salvation. In it he tells Paul to go on speaking because “I have many people in this city.” To this Paul doesn’t reply, “Well, since you already have people here, Lord, I’ll go to the next town.” No, Paul accepts the Lord’s words to mean that some people in Corinth will be saved when he preaches the gospel to them. In other words, the Lord was letting Paul know that some people in Corinth were Jesus’s property even though they hadn’t realized it yet. Paul, therefore, needed to go on speaking the gospel with confidence because Jesus was determined to have a people in Corinth.

Now you might be tempted to think, I wish I had such promises to go on when it comes to sharing about Jesus. Take heart because you do! The Lord has already told us that he is with us (cf. Heb 13:5) and that he is drawing people to himself (cf. John 6:37,39). And while we can’t claim God’s final promise to Paul exactly, we do have God’s promise to work for the good of his people (cf. Rom 8:28). With that in mind, we must daily fill our minds with the promises of God. That, in fact, is how we fight fear today. So saturate your mind and heart with the Lord’s sovereign and sweet promises.

Several of my historical heroes experienced serious bouts of discouragement, fear, and depression. Zack Eswine recently released a book entitled Spurgeon’s Sorrows. Consider what acclaimed preacher Charles Spurgeon had to say on the reality of sorrow:

“I am the subject of depressions of spirit so fearful that I hope none of you ever get to such extremes of wretchedness as I go to.” (Quoted in Eswine, 15)

“I wonder every day that there are not more suicides, considering the troubles in this life.” (Quoted in Eswine, 119)

“The Road to sorrow has been well trodden, it is the regular sheep track to heaven, and all the flock of God have had to pass along it.” (Quoted in Eswine, 17)

But also consider Spurgeon’s counsel to look to God’s promises, providence, and strength:

An ointment for every wound, a cordial for every faintness, a remedy for every disease. Blessed is he who is skilled in heavenly pharmacy and knows how to lay hold on the healing virtues of the promises of God! (“Obtaining Promises”)

To be cast down is often the best thing that could happen to us. (“Sweet Stimulants for the Fainting Soul”)

It is an unspeakable consolation that our Lord Jesus knows this experience. (“The Roots of Depression”)

From both Paul the apostle and Charles Spurgeon, we can learn about the necessity of leaning on the cane of God’s grace. In your sorrows, meditate on the promises of God; draw near to Jesus, the Man of Sorrows; and trust in God’s providence. What this means practically is that in your sorrows you don’t need to skip worship gatherings. You need to listen to Scripture. When facing trials, you must not remove yourself from community. Instead, press in to God’s Word, be around God’s people, and allow the Lord of promises to rejuvenate you.

Acts 18:11-17

This is the first time Paul stays an extended period in a city. He uses the extra time to disciple this new congregation, grounding them in the Scriptures.

Then in verses 12-17 we see how the vision God provided him prepared Paul for a legal assault by the Jews. They leveled a complaint to Gallio, claiming that Paul was persuading people to worship God in ways contrary to the law. In the long run, Gallio dismisses the whole matter, refusing to get involved in some internal theological debate. Paul goes free as a result.

The person attacked by proxy is actually Crispus’s successor, Sosthenes. We’re not told why Sosthenes was beaten or who was behind the violence. It could be that the Jews attacked him because he, too, was on the verge of becoming a Christian or because he had already become one (cf. 1 Cor 1:1). Jews may have attacked him simply because they were upset about their loss of pubic image. Or perhaps the Gentiles attacked him in a moment of anti-Semitic rage. All we know is this: the Lord kept his promise to Paul. He really did protect him. And he protected him on this occasion in an ordinary way—not through a miraculous escape but through a judicial decision.

So Paul stays for a longer period of time in Corinth, grounding the saints in the Scriptures as he rests in the promises of God. The Lord in his grace and sovereignty may give us longer seasons of discipleship in some places than in others. Let’s make sure we are expounding the Word of Christ and exalting the Christ of the Word no matter the duration of our assignments.

Acts 18:18-22

Here we have a travelogue that shows how Paul completed the final part of his second missionary journey, returning to the church in Antioch where it began (15:35-41).

Paul must have intended to go to Jerusalem before going to Cenchreae because he shaved his hair to conclude a Nazirite vow (cf. Num 6:2,5,9,18). Doing so may have been Paul’s expression of thanks to God for protecting him at Corinth. The ritual would include offering a sacrifice at the temple and burning hair devoted to God on the altar (Johnson, Let’s Study Acts, 230). The action shows that Paul never disregarded the law’s relevance to Jews, contrary to false charges from others (ibid.; cf. Acts 18:13; 21:21-26; 1 Cor 9:20). John Stott comments,

Once Paul had been liberated from the attempt to be justified by the law, his conscience was free to take part in practices which, being ceremonial or cultural, belonged to the “matters indifferent,” perhaps on this occasion in order to conciliate the Jewish Christian leaders he was going to see in Jerusalem (cf. 21:23). (Message of Acts, 301)

Though Jerusalem isn’t mentioned in the Greek here, most interpreters see it as implied by the verbs “went up” and “went down” (v. 22; cf. 11:2; 21:15). Paul visited “the church” there (v. 22).

This passage helps us look forward to what will become the primary place of ministry during Paul’s third missionary journey, Ephesus. The Spirit blocked Paul’s attempt to minister there previously (16:6), but on this return trip he visits briefly, teaching in the synagogue and promising to return “if God wills” (v. 21), which is a practical expression of belief in God’s sovereignty. Paul left his friends Aquila and Priscilla there. They will give some important instruction to a character we’ll meet in the next chapter, Apollos (vv. 24-28; cf. 1 Cor 3:5-9).

Paul finally returns to Antioch, the sending church, concluding the second missionary journey. We’re reminded again that Paul wasn’t an isolated missionary. He ministered in association with the church.

This chapter reminds us that Paul loved the gospel, the church, and the King’s mission. So let’s follow this model. Paul encountered weakness and fear but found strength in God’s abundant grace. So let’s look to the sufficiency of God’s grace in our trials. Paul resolved to preach the cross in the midst of an arrogant and immoral culture. So by the power of the Spirit, let’s do the same.