Our God of Encouragement
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2017 · 18 June 2017
Paul gave great advice to the Thessalonians from the city of Corinth. In fact, he wrote this advice right while he was experiencing what we are studying this evening. Paul was really writing out of his own experience. But God is an encourager, and we are going to see in these verses how God strengthen His weary servant who is preaching the Gospel in the city of Corinth.
When Paul arrived in Corinth, he had been chased everywhere. He started out in Antioch of Syria on a missionary journey with Silas; started some churches there, and went through Galatia, confirmed the saints there, and continued west. He was driven by the Holy Spirit. He finally crossed over from Troas and entered into Philippi, where he preached, and was hassled again and chased out of town.
In Thessalonica he was persecuted terribly; and had to run for his life. And he got to Berea, and no sooner had he established the church there, the Thessalonian Jews arrived to chase him out again. He was alone in the city of Athens, and he presented the Gospel clearly and there wasn't any persecution. After he left Athens he comes to the city of Corinth.
And now God moves in to encourage him. And it is from this Corinthian experience, he wrote in 2 Thessalonians 3:13, "Brothers, do not become weary in doing good to others." If Athens was the city of learning, Corinth was the city of sin. It was the most depraved city in that world of that day. In fact, the actual name Corinth became a common term which meant immoral.
To say that a woman is a Corinthian woman meant that she was a prostitute. Now, Corinth was vile to the very core. The whole city was depraved because of the following reasons. It was the center of trade and travel, and sailors and caravans were going through it all the time. And it was the place for entertainment and it connected South Greece to North Greece. So Corinth was in a very strategic location.
Now, Corinth was also important politically. Corinth was the provincial capital, which meant that the proconsul of Rome stayed there, and the headquarters were there. If Athens glorified the mind, Corinth glorified the body. You can imagine what must be going on in the world around the church. And Paul had to write two letters to restore them, telling them again and again to repent and to purify themselves.
Now, the Lord speaks to Paul in verse 10, “For I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you; for I have many people in this city.” Now these were God's elect, sovereignly chosen ones. And they were in that city and not yet saved, but they were about to be saved as Paul brought the Gospel. God had prepared their hearts in the midst of all that sin. God will not do a lot with intellectuals, but He always does a lot with sinners.
Paul wasn’t long in Athens, but he stayed long time in Corinth, where it became a base of operation for the Gospel. From the city of Corinth Paul wrote 1 Thessalonians and 2 Thessalonians, and the book of Romans. And it was back to the Christians at Corinth that he wrote 1 and 2 Corinthians. So the Corinthian church became an important base for Christianity.
Now, when Paul arrived there, he was really discouraged. But our God is a God of encouragement. There are so many places where the Psalms refers to God as a God of encouragement. Just think how many times in the New Testament, Jesus said, "Be of good cheer." In John 16:33 Jesus said, “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
God has always been concerned with the encouragement of His own. Philippians 4:19 says, “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Discouragement is part of life when your hopes and dreams don't come true. Or maybe there is an ungrateful heart or a criticism that is unjust. We all have experienced that, but our God will encourage us.
And in Acts 18:1-18 God encourages Paul in four ways. First, God encourages Paul with giving him companionship. God brings some friends into his life. Number two: God brings some converts into his life, and that's encouraging. Three: God himself comes in fellowship with him and encourages him. And fourth: hardship, his enemies. Did you know you can be encouraged by your enemies?
So let us start with companionship. Paul arrives in town all alone. In 1 Corinthians 2:3 Paul wrote how he felt, "I was with you in weakness and fear, and in much trembling." And when he wrote to the Thessalonians, he wrote it right from Corinth, when he was there in Acts 18. 1 Thessalonians 3:7, "Therefore, brethren, we were comforted over you in all our affliction and distress by your faith." Now that shows us that he was hurting.
Then God brought two people into his life that came to love him, such that he mentions them frequently in his ministry. Acts 18:2, “And he found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla (because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome); and he came to them.”
Pontus was a province just on the southern edge of the Black Sea north of modern Turkey. A Jew named Aquilla had come from Italy with his wife, Priscilla. It's interesting here that Aquilla is mentioned first. But from now on, the remaining verses mention Priscilla first. It might be that Priscilla was strong spiritually; and consequently was named first. Most likely they were Christians already.
By the time Paul wrote the Book of Romans, which was later on in another visit to Corinth, the church at Rome had already grown to the place where the faith of those Christians had spread all over the world. And one of the things that helped to spread that faith was that all the Jewish Christians were expelled from there. Now, the Gentile Christians remained, and the Church remained.
So when Aquilla and Pricilla and the other Jews were in Rome, persecution broke out against the Jews and Claudius forced them all out in 39 A.D. Suetonius was a historian who wrote about his life. And one of his statements about Claudius was this, “As the Jews were indulging in constant riots at the instigation of Chrestus, Claudius banished them from Rome."
Verse 3, “So, because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked; for by occupation they were tentmakers.” The literal word is leather worker. And they were doing the same. Historians say that in the synagogue, everybody would be sitting according to their trades. Maybe that is where Aquilla and Priscilla met Paul in the synagogue. And because Paul was of the same craft, he just moved right in their business and became a part of their lives.
And Paul worked hard. That's just the kind of man he was. God doesn't want everybody just to raise support. God wants some people to work. And then when the time came, God takes care of the support needs. In 1 Thessalonians 2:9, he says, “For you remember, brethren, our labor and toil; for laboring night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, we preached to you the gospel of God.”
God will take care of the servant of God. He needs to put the needs out there and let God supply. If you feel God calling you to do a ministry, go ahead, prove yourself faithful while you earn a living. And if you're faithful enough, God will release you from your efforts to earn a living and will support you full time to do your ministry if it's that important to Him."
But sometimes God waits until you have become more spiritually mature or have repented of some sin issues and have learned to be obedient and have learned to trust Him before He gives you a ministry. His timing is far better than our timing. And learn from Paul’s example how much work, courage and tenacity it takes to preach the Gospel, while the Jews attacked him from all sides.
Look at verse 4, “And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks.” See, Paul had to work on the other days. He was proving to the people of Corinth he didn't come to intrude on them and demand from them. He came to give himself to them. And secondly, he was waiting for the time that God could free him up to do it full-time when the time was right. That is how God works.
What Paul did every Sabbath was reason in synagogue. And the verb to reason means to discuss by question and answer. It means to convince, to dialogue, which means you continually discuss it again. Notice he was in the process of persuading them. He was seeking to persuade them that Jesus was the Messiah.
It is exciting to see how God brought two people into a lonely man's life, who became so beloved that they had a place in the rest of Paul’s life. In Romans 16:3 and in 1 Corinthians 16:19 they are mentioned. In 2 Timothy 4:19, they're mentioned again. And eventually a church grew up in their house. It is not good for man to be alone.
But what is just as good as new friends or maybe better? Old friends. And so verse 5, "When Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia." Two old friends arrive. Now, the Philippian church sent him money, but how did they sent it? 2 Corinthians 11:9 says, “And when I was present with you, and in need, I was a burden to no one, for what I lacked the brethren who came from Macedonia supplied.”
So Silas had gone to Philippi, and the Philippian church had taken a love offering, and he brought that. And Timothy brought news that the Thessalonians were growing. In 1 Thessalonians 3:6, it says, “But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and brought us good news of your faith and love, and that you always have good remembrance of us, greatly desiring to see us, as we also to see you.”
Paul wrote 1 Thessalonians right there in Acts 18:5 when Timothy and Silas arrived. 1 Thessalonians 3:7-8 says, “Therefore, brethren, in all our affliction and distress we were comforted concerning you by your faith. 8 For now we live, if you stand fast in the Lord.” You know, that man's very life was the growth of his children. Verse 9, “For what thanks can we render to God for you, for all the joy with which we rejoice for your sake before our God.”
He was doubly blessed because Silas came in with money. He said, "Paul, I have news for you. You don’t have to continue as a tent maker." The oldest manuscripts say this: "Paul began devoting himself completely to the Word." Timothy came with all the joy, Silas came with a love offering. Now you see how God comforts a disheartened saint: with companionship. What a joyous time.
Paul worked when he had to work. But that doesn't mean that every preacher is supposed to work extra. If the need is there, then it should be done. But Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:7, “Whoever goes to war at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk of the flock?” In other words, the support comes from within what you are doing.
And 1 Corinthians 9:11-14 says, “If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things? 12 If others are partakers of this right over you, are we not even more? 13 Do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat of the things of the temple, and those who serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar? 14 Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel.”
That means, if you preach the Gospel, you should live from your preaching. In other words, the church should support the one who preaches and teaches. And that's indicated in 1 Timothy 5:17, “Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine.” The word double honor has a monetary connotation. The congregation needs to give him sufficient monetary support for his faithfulness in preaching and teaching.
Well, how did the Jews respond? Acts 18:6, “But when they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook his garments and said to them, “Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” They made their ultimate decision, which was that Jesus was not the Messiah. They opposed Paul, and they blasphemed Christ.
The bible teaches individual responsibility. If you die without Jesus Christ, your blood is on your own head. We are going to see how that fits in with verse 10, where God says, "I have many people in this city." That's a sovereign statement of election. Here is a statement of human responsibility. We will put them together and see what the significance is later. But now Paul says, "You are responsible for your own decision.”
Verse 7-8, “And he departed from there and entered the house of a certain man named Justus, one who worshiped God, whose house was next door to the synagogue. 8 Then Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his household. And many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized.” God always calls a remnant to Himself. And next we will see how God encourages him with fellowship and hardship. And that is the way we too are often encouraged, right? Let us pray.