Every New Beginning Comes From Some Other Beginning's End (Acts 18:18-23)

This week we studied Acts 18:18-23.  Go ahead and read this passage so that we can get our bearings before starting today’s discussion…

… My pun in the above paragraph probably went unnoticed when you first read it, but maybe you’ll appreciate it now (or maybe not).  I mentioned getting “our bearings.”  Having a working knowledge of the geography of the region referenced in today’s passage can help us make a little more sense of the sequence of events Luke is describing. If you have the opportunity to look at a map (either in your Bible or online), follow this leg of Paul’s ministry – starting in Corinth (Acts 18:18) and ending in Galatia and Phrygia (vs. 23).

I wonder if you noticed the same things I did.  Like when reading the Scripture with the backdrop of the region’s geography, most translations do not order verses 18-21 sequentially (at least not consistently sequentially … the NLT being the exception I’ve found).  Verse 18 reads (at least to me) as if (1) Paul stayed in Corinth for a while (after Sosthenes’ beating [discussed in my previous post]) before (2) saying goodbye and sailing for Syria along with Priscilla and Aquila.  (3) Somewhere along the way, at a place called Cenchreae, Paul cut his hair.  On your map, did you notice that Cenchreae was actually a port city near Corinth?  It is more accurate to think about the mention of Cenchreae in the midst of item (2) rather than a separate item (3).

Verse 19a (i.e. the first part of verse 19) gives us an overview of Paul’s short visit to Ephesus:  They arrived in Ephesus, but Paul left alone.  Verses 19b-21 tell us what happened during Paul’s short stay.  But why so short?  Look back at verse 18.  Where was Paul’s intended destination?                           

Right, it was Syria.  Looking back at your map, was Ephesus in Syria?                    

Paul’s course was set, and it appears that – while he wanted to stay longer – Ephesus was a lay-over on his trip back to Syria.  So at the end of verse 21, Paul “set sail from Ephesus” and headed for Syria (vs. 18).

After landing in Caesarea, Paul went south to Jerusalem and then north to Antioch, where he stayed for a time and then left (vs. 22b-23a).  If you’ve been studying Paul’s missionary journeys alongside of us here on the Now What? blog (or at church in Tentmakers), I really hope the mention of Antioch at least rings a bell.  If not, look back at Acts 15:40, 14:27-28, and 13:1-3.  Although these verses don’t all mention Antioch explicitly, if you look at the context of each verse, you will see that they all take place in Antioch (of Syria).  We might say it was Paul’s home church.  It was from this city that we have seen him begin all three of his missionary journeys and end the first two.  Some of you may be thinking, ‘But I thought we were still on his second journey?’  Well, we were … until Acts 18:22b-23a when Paul came to Antioch quietly and departed equally so. 

The unceremonial tone of the end and the beginning Luke barely describes (again in vs. 22b-23a) remind me so much of an anticipated reunion – family, high school, college, etc.  You know when you go somewhere you used to fit in, but things just aren’t like they used to be?  Maybe you’ve changed.  Maybe they’ve changed.  Maybe that person who held the group together is no longer there.  It’s just not the same.  That is what I see with Paul here in Antioch.  I wonder if the difference for him lingering or leaving was Barnabas.  Barnabas who, along with Paul (then Saul), had been set apart by God for that first missionary journey (Acts 13:1-3).  Barnabas who – even earlier than that – had hunted Saul down in Tarsus to bring him to this new church Antioch (Acts 11:25-26). 

As for the “maybe you … or they … have changed” option, that may have played a role as well.  Antioch wasn’t the same baby church it was when Barnabas brought Paul there years ago (Acts 11:25-26).  Likewise Paul must have had a more definite grasp on his calling than he did in the early days of his own ministry – “to preach the Gospel, not where Christ’s name has already been known … But as it is written, They shall see who have never been told of Him, and they shall understand who have never heard” (Rom 15:20-21, Amp).   

Antioch had grown.  Paul had grown.  Barnabas was gone.  And so Paul “left and went from place to place in an orderly journey through the territory of Galatia and Phrygia, establishing the disciples and imparting new strength to them” (Acts 18:23).  Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.

Now What?  It’s time for a new beginning.

You Are Here! (Acts 14:27)

A segment of many (if not all) of Joyce Meyer’s Enjoying Everyday Life TV episodes is devoted to reporting to her ministry partners about the work that is being accomplished because of their contributions to her ministry.  She says, “You Are Here” – in India, Thailand, Africa, Guatemala, the streets of St. Louis, etc.  Her partners may not be there physically, but they are in spirit.  By acknowledging viewer support of her ministry, she validates the contributions of people who can’t (or haven’t been called to) physically leave their homes to go to impoverished regions of the country/world; she acknowledges that she couldn’t do what she does without the support of her viewers.

As Paul and Barnabas returned to their home-church at Syrian Antioch, Luke says in Acts 14:27 that, “they gathered the church together and declared all that God had accomplished with them…” (Amplified, emphasis mine).  God had certainly done some amazing things through and for Paul and Barnabas on their journey, but I think that, in reporting back to the church, Paul and Barnabas were essentially saying to them (in the words of Joyce Meyer) “You are here!” – in Cyprus, Pamphylia, Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, Derbe, Perga. 

These believers had “commended [Paul and Barnabas] to the grace of God” (Acts 14:26).  They had separated them “for the work to which [God] had called them” (Acts 13:2).  The church of Syrian Antioch was able to walk on ground their own feet would never tread and stir the hearts and minds of people they would never see through the feet and words of two of their own – Paul and Barnabas.  I wonder what or who you are reaching – maybe it’s with your own arms or maybe it’s with the arms of a representative. 

At first glance, you may not feel like your reach is very significant, but consider how much greater your wingspan becomes when you include contributions you make through your local church, your denomination, ministry partnerships (like Joyce Meyer’s), this online community, etc.  Consider how much greater and more powerful your reach becomes when you change your perspective from an individual person to a member of the Body of Christ, which as believers we are (1 Cor 12:27)!

It is God’s will and desire for the Good News of the salvation of Jesus Christ to reach people through us.  To whom is He reaching out through you today?  You’re not reading this by accident.  You are here for a reason!

“… And who knows but that you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this and for this very occasion?” (Esther 4:14).

Hansel and Gretel (Acts 14:21-27)

Since my last post, our class has continued to tag along with Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey through the region of Galatia.  To get a real sense of the cities to which we have been/will be referring, you need to reference a map showing Paul’s first missionary journey.  Your Bible might have one, or I found one online at:

http://www.biblestudy.org/maps/pauls-first-journey-map.html.

Acts 14 details Paul and Barnabas’ time in Iconium and Lystra.  It also tells us that they continued on to Derbe.  Not much is said about their time there, but we do know that they “preached the Good News … and made disciples of many” (Acts 14:21, Amplified).  It was at Derbe that the pair turned around and began retracing their steps back to Syrian Antioch – “where they had [first] been commended to the grace of God” (Acts 14:26).  If you’ve looked at the map, you may wonder (as I did) why the two didn’t just cross the mountains to get back to what had become their home church; it certainly would have been a shorter route.  Even though Paul and Barnabas had come to the end of the road, their work was not yet complete.

Right now I have the story of Hansel and Gretel running through my mind.  I don’t remember the whole story, but I know that they went on a walk through the woods and left a trail of bread crumbs so that they could find their way home.  Only when they turned around, birds had eaten all of the bread crumbs.  This reminded me of Jesus’ parable of the four soils told in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke.  Remember that first soil – the footpath – and how seed scattered on it is snatched away by Satan before having time to take root (Luke 8:4-15)?  In Acts 13:49, we’re told that “the Word of the Lord [concerning eternal salvation through Christ] scattered and spread throughout the whole region.”  Unlike with Hansel and Gretel, the seed that was scattered by Paul and Barnabas had not been snatched away; instead a trail of believers had been left in their path, paving their way home.

Paul and Barnabas’ first pass through the region had been marked by preaching in local synagogues with the purpose of convincing Jews and then Gentiles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Their return trip was much different.  Instead of Paul and Barnabas being the focus, Luke (the inspired writer of Acts) puts the spotlight on the local believers.  Paul and Barnabas take a supporting role (both literally and figuratively) in preparing them to continue in the grace of God after the two had left the region (see Acts 14:22-23).

We’re told that Paul and Barnabas returned to Syrian Antioch having completed the work for which God had set them apart (Acts 14:26).  …And now the conviction falls on me.  God gave me a verse a month or so ago.  I hadn’t thought about it for a few weeks, but the Holy Spirit is faithful to remind me now:  2 Corinthians 8:11, “So now finish doing it, that your [enthusiastic] readiness in desiring it may be equaled by your completion of it according to your ability and means.”  I have started so many things that I have never finished!  I don’t want the work that God has set apart for me to be one of those things!  I wonder how many of you can relate.  Let's encourage each other here and now on this forum (btw, you are able to comment even if you're not a "follower" of the blog)!  In case you're thinking you have nothing to share, consider the following:

• Have you ever started a project you never finished?
• Are you fatiguing in an area where you once felt enthusiasm?  Maybe it's relational, job-related, church-related, a hobby, healthy habits, ...
• Have you just started something you're really excited about? Are you getting ready to start something?

Boy, I hope it isn't just me.  :)  Let’s continue to study the life of Paul together, so that we can encourage each other in finishing our God-given missions as Paul and Barnabas did.  I'll meet you back here next week.  Until then, I look forward to reading your comments.

...Yes!

Melt me. Mold me. Fill me. Use me. (Saul becomes Paul)

Hello everyone.  Sorry about the week of silence.  I assure you it wasn’t intentional.  I thought about you each and every day, but I never could quite put words together to summarize and extend last week’s lesson – that is, until yesterday.  I had a song in my head – “Spirit of the Living God.”

            Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on me.

            Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on me.

            Melt me.  Mold me.  Fill me.  Use me.

            Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on me.

We’re moving past our study of Jonah and Nineveh, but the question that Jonah prompted isn’t answered or forgotten with the turn of a page or two:  As ministers of the Gospel (which each and every believer is called to be), what responsibility do we have to those with whom we’ve shared God’s Word – as Jonah shared it with the people of Nineveh?

To help us get a better grasp on God’s answer to that question, last week we began looking at the apostle Paul.  Specifically we looked at his life as Saul – starting with Acts 13:1-2, but quickly jumping to Acts 22 where we read Paul’s first-hand account of what God had done for him.  The process started with melting. 

MELT ME.  MOLD ME.  In Acts 22:4-16, Paul – arrested by the Roman army and consequently in their protective custody – testified to the story of his own conversion (originally told in Acts 9).  Saul literally melted to the ground on his way to Damascus when confronted by Jesus Himself.  Over the next 10-12 years, God continued the process of melting away the old Saul and molding him into His “chosen instrument … to bear [God’s] name before the gentiles and kings and the descendants of Israel” (Acts 9:15).

FILL ME.  Part of the prophecy Ananias spoke over Saul in Acts 9 was recovery of his sight.  He also said that Paul would “be filled with the Holy Spirit” (vs. 17).  We see (vs. 18) that Saul received his sight and wasted no time being baptized, but I find it very interesting that we‘re not told that Saul was immediately filled by the Holy Spirit.  I’m not saying Saul didn’t receive the Holy Spirit upon his baptism in Damascus!  Rather I’m saying that there is a difference between a new believer receiving God’s Spirit and one being “filled unto all the fullness of God” (Eph 3:19).  So if Saul wasn’t immediately and completely filled with the Holy Spirit, when did it happen?  I’m not sure when it happened, but we know it did.

I told you that we started last week in Acts 13:1-2.  If you read on, we get a glimpse into the first days and weeks of Saul’s first missionary journey (10-12 years after his conversion).  It is in Acts 13:9 that we read the name Paul for the first time in Scripture.  It slips by almost as an after-thought:  “Saul, who is also called Paul …”  But an afterthought, it definitely is not.  Saul is never again used (except with Paul referring to himself before this moment in time).  Coincidentally, or NOT, it is also the time we read of the definite fulfillment of Ananias’ prophecy – that Saul would be “filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 9:17).

 

USE ME.  Vessels are filled to be used.  In that moment, Saul – the re-formed (Yes, I know it isn’t hyphenated; it’s play on “mold me.”) Jewish Pharisee – came face-to-face with another Jewish man who was “perverting and making crooked the straight paths of the Lord and plotting against His saving purposes” (Acts 13:10).  I imagine it was like looking at himself in the mirror.  It had taken years for God to melt away Saul’s old self, mold him into God’s chosen instrument, and fill Saul to the point of overflowing with His grace and power.  Now instead of being the one with blinded eyes, God gave Paul eyes to see into the dark soul of Elymas.  God used Paul to blind the eyes of this self-proclaimed wise man.

Scripture suggests that Elymas’ blindness was temporary (Acts 13:11), but we never again hear from Elymas to know the end of his story.  Saul had come full circle and was beginning a new one – his first missionary journey – as Paul.  I wonder who God used to restore Elymas’ physical sight.  I wonder if, in receiving back his physical sight, God restored Elymas’ spiritual sight as well – molding, filling, and using him to further advance His kingdom and glorify His name.

…In the coming weeks, we’ll continue to travel with Paul on his missionary journeys and check on the churches he ministered to through his letters.  I hope you’ll join us!

            Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on me.

            Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on me.

            Melt me.  Mold me.  Fill me.  Use me.

            Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on me.