When Paul was low in spirits and considering stopping his ministry in Corinth, the Lord Jesus appeared to him in a vision and encouraged him. We can find strength in His encouraging promises today.
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Jesus Encourages Paul
Acts 18:1-11
The Puritan, John Bunyan, wrote an allegory of the Christian life called Pilgrim’s Progress. In that story, Christian and Faithful enter a town called Vanity Fair, a town known for its debauched and depraved practices. In Bunyan’s story, Faithful was martyred in Vanity Fair because of his commitment to honor Christ, and Christian barely escaped with his life. Vanity Fair is an allegory of this sinful world in which we live. Corinth was the Vanity Fair of the ancient world.
Corinth was a very unique place to live. For starters, it was one of the largest cities in the ancient world. Its population of 200,000 was surpassed only by Antioch in Syria and Rome. Paul came to Corinth as part of his strategy to evangelize the major population centers of the world. He knew that the church would take care of evangelizing the outlying areas.
Corinth was also a great commercial center. It was the New York City of the ancient world. It commanded the trade routes in all directions, north and south by land, and east and west by sea. Corinth was a city of sailors, and so it’s hardly surprising that Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea, was worshiped there. Paul knew that if trade could radiate from Corinth in all directions, so could the gospel.
Corinth was also an exceedingly wicked city. Behind the city, nearly 2,000 feet above sea level, stood the temple of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and fertility. 1,000 female slaves served this goddess, and dis so by roaming the streets of Corinth by night as prostitutes. In fact, the phrase “to Corinthianize” meant to practice sexual immorality.
We know what the lifestyle of the people of Corinth was like, because Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” Look around at the church in Corinth, and you would have seen ex-homosexuals, adulterers, thieves, idolaters, drunkards, revilers and swindlers! That was the kind of fruit the soil of Corinth produced. But faith in Jesus Christ changed all of that. Saving faith has a purifying and cleansing effect. They were those things, but were not any longer. The drunkard lives a sober life. The homosexual has repented of his former lifestyle. The idolaters have smashed their idols to pieces. The swindlers have confessed their crimes. The thieves have made restitution. The gospel makes all the difference in the world!
On this second missionary journey Paul and his companions have planted churches in Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, and Athens. Paul now trudges on to Corinth alone. He has been beaten and thrown into prison in Philippi, run out of town in Thessalonica and Berea, and demeaned as babbler in Athens. Although Paul was an exceptional man, he was still but a man. As such, he was prone to the same discouragements and depressions that all of us are prone to. The Lord knew this, and in Acts 18, Jesus draws near to His servant to encourage him. I’m just going to mention two things that the Lord did for Paul to encourage him at this time.
The Lord gave him friends.
The Lord gave him promises.
1. The Lord Encouraged Paul with Friends
Aquila and Priscilla. 18:1-3. After Paul had made the 50 mile journey from Athens to Corinth, he just happened to meet up with a couple of soul-mates. Aquila and Priscilla were Jews, who had come from Rome, because of a command from the emperor in AD 49. It appears that they were already believers when they arrived in Corinth.
Of the same trade. Take notice of what the Lord is doing here. He is bringing Paul some friends with whom he can have Christian fellowship with. Remember, that his teammates are not with him at this time. However, the Lord brings some Jewish believers, who also share his same trade, with whom he can share Christ and the ministry.
Long time friends. They served the Lord by having the church meet in their house in Ephesus and Rome. Their names appear six times in Scripture. This was just the beginning of a long and fruitful relationship between Paul and Aquila and Priscilla.
Romans 16:3-4, “Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who for my life risked their own necks, to whom not only do I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles…” This couple were very devoted to serving Christ, and were a great support and help to Paul in his labors.
What an encouragement they must have been to Paul. All of his team were in other cities taking care of the new churches that had just been planted. Paul was all alone. He had been hunted, hounded, and persecuted in city after city for months. He desperately needed some divine encouragement, and the Lord gave it to him in the form of some true friends.
Application: I think sometimes we take one another for granted, and don’t really appreciate the value of Christian friends, and Christian fellowship. When you are feeling down and need encouragement, take advantage of your Christian friends! Get together with another brother or sister in Christ to share your burdens and ask for prayer. Who are those brothers or sisters in your life that you can share your burdens with, knowing that they will care and encourage you and pray for you? Whoever that is in your life, reach out to them, meet with them and draw encouragement from them. The Christian life was never meant to be lived in isolation! God intends for believers to live out their lives in community. When there is a choice between meeting together or just staying home and watching a sermon online, I hope you will choose to meet together. That’s God’s design for His church. We can’t demonstrate love for one another if we stay home and watch TV. We need to be with each other. Now that the COVID threat is no longer an issue, we have no excuse to stay apart from the church. But all of us must recognize the value of personal, face to face, Christian fellowship. I was just talking to a family member who told me they don’t actually meet in person with the church any more. They just stay home and watch sermons online. Tragically, they are cutting themselves off from a very powerful means of grace in their lives. Let’s not make that same mistake.
2. The Lord Encouraged Paul with Promises
18:9-10. Jesus appeared to Paul here in a vision. This isn’t the first time Paul has had a vision. He had a vision when he was first converted of a man named Ananias coming to him to lay hands on him and heal him (9:12), and he had a vision of a man from Macedonia calling to him to come over and help them (16:9). Evidently the opposition and persecution of the Jews had been mounting and becoming more and more intense. Paul was becoming afraid. After all, he had been stoned, beaten, imprisoned, and run out of town everywhere else – why should this be any different? He was probably wondering if he should leave now while he was still in one piece. So, the Lord drew near in a vision in order to give him words of assurance and promise.
Jesus begins with 3 commands: Do not be afraid – go on speaking – do not be silent. This tells me that Paul was afraid, and that he had been thinking about stopping his ministry there in Corinth. The Lord does not want him to stop, so He gives Him some promises to bolster his courage.
1) The Promise Of His Presence: “I am with you.” Now that’s enough right there. If the Lord is with me, who can be against me? In Hebrews 13:5-6 we read, “He Himself has said, ‘I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,’ so that we confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What will man do to me?’” Did you notice that the psalmist’s conviction that he would not be afraid and that man could not really hurt him, was based on the Lord’s promise to never desert or forsake him? When Jesus gave the eleven apostles the staggering to command to go into all the world and make disciples of all the nations, He encouraged them with the promise, “And lo I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
One of the simplest but most profound truths that can help you when you are discouraged is to remind yourself that the Lord is with you! It’s like the little wimpy boy who’s always being teased and beat up by the bully. When he tells his big brother, the brother says, “Don’t worry about that bully from now on. I’m going to stick real close to you. Whenever someone starts to attack you, they’re going to have to tangle with me.” From that day, that little boy walked everywhere with total peace, and had no fear at all, because he knew his big brother was right behind him. Folks, we don’t have to be afraid of anyone – Jesus is with us!
All of us will face fear and discouragement from time to time. In fact, maybe many of you are facing it right now. One of the best things you can do is preach the truth to yourself. Tell yourself, “The Lord is with me.” He promised to never desert me or forsake me. I can count on the fact that He is with me right now. And if the Lord is with me, then everything is going to be okay.
2) The Promise of His Protection: “no man will attack you in order to harm you”. This was a specific promise made to Paul, that while he was in Corinth, he would be protected by God. God had a special purpose for Paul there at Corinth, and no man would attack him during that period of time. Now, the Jews did try to attack Paul. The very next verses tell us that they rose up against Paul and brought him before the Gallio the judge. However, they couldn’t har him. When Paul opened his mouth to defend himself, he found out he didn’t have to. Gallio did it for him!
Now, this is not a universal promise for all Christians everywhere at all time. Just read Christian history, and Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, and you will see that God has permitted men to physically harm His people. God’s true people have been persecuted and killed in violent ways throughout history. But even in those cases, God will never allow His people to be separated from His love. Jesus told us in Luke 12:4 “I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!”
In Luke 21:16-18 Jesus says, “But you will be betrayed even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death, and you will be hated by all because of My name. Yet not a hair of your head will perish.” Now, how can that be?! How can some be put to death, but not a hair of their head perish? I think Jesus must have meant they may be able to harm you physically, but can never harm you spiritually.
We should thank God for all the times He protects us. Sometimes He does it through His angels. Sometimes He does it through turning the hearts of evil men. Sometimes He does it by providentially causing situations to turn out in His favor. The Christian is invincible until God is through with him. Nothing can harm or kill us until God’s appointed time. His protection is on His people.
So, when you find yourself feeling afraid or discouraged or your life in danger, remind yourself that you are invincible until the Lord’s purpose for your life is finished.
3) The Promise Of His Predestination: “for I have many people in this city.”
I HAVE many people. This is in the present tense. It does not say, “I will have many people in this city when you have preached to them and they have come to faith.” No, God had them now, before they believed.
The word “have” denotes ownership. I have them, because they are mine. Now, Jesus does not say that He has every person in the city. He has many people in the city. There was a group of people in Corinth that were His in a special sense.
I believe Jesus means that He has these people because He has chosen them and predestined them to salvation. That’s why Paul must not stop his ministry out of fear, but go on speaking. The preaching of the gospel is the means the Lord will use to call out those whom He has chosen.
Jesus said in John 10:16, “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.” Jesus is talking about the Gentiles. They are the “other sheep” which were not of this fold. But the Lord “has” them, even before they are brought into His fold. And their salvation is so certain that the Lord can say, “I MUST bring them also, and they WILL hear My voice; and they WILL become one flock with one shepherd.”
In 2 Timothy 2:19 Paul writes, “The Lord knows those who are His.” The world is divided into sheep and goats, and they have been sheep and goats from all eternity. Romans 8:30 says, “Those whom He predestined, these He also called.”
I believe it’s the very same situation with us today. If the Lord appeared to us in a vision, He would probably say, “Don’t be afraid, but go on speaking and don’t be silent, for I am with you, and I will protect you, because I have many people in Sacramento.” Undoubtedly, there are people living all across this metropolitan area whom God has chosen to salvation. However, these people need to see the gospel demonstrated in our lives and proclaimed by our lips.
Notice that Paul didn’t use the doctrine of predestination as an excuse to sit down and do nothing because he knew God was going to save His people. No! He saw it as an incentive to get busy! 18:11 – “And he settled there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.” Paul stayed in Corinth longer than any other city except Ephesus. He did so, because he knew there were elect people there who needed the Word of God. Election is not a hindrance to evangelism; it is the greatest motivation to evangelism! If there were no Divine Election, I would sit down in utter discouragement, because I know that all men are dead in trespasses and sins, and are unable and unwilling to come to Christ. But Divine Election teaches me that the elect shall be made willing in the day of God’s power! So, I have great reason to go forth in Christ’s name, proclaiming His truth!
When Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:10, he said, “For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory.” The doctrine of election did not cause Paul to be lazy and inactive in the work of Christ. Rather it inspired him to endure all things, knowing the elect would be saved.
Conclusion
How did the Lord Jesus encourage His servant? He brought him Christian friends, and gave Him great and magnificent promises. Those are the same things that should encourage us when we are discouraged and afraid.
Just take those three promises: the Lord’s presence, protection, and predestination. Those three promises alone are enough to motivate and encourage us until Jesus comes back again!
Brothers and sisters, give yourselves to the Lord’s work. “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.” Make sure you are abounding in the work of the Lord. Make friends with someone that needs Jesus, and point them to Him. Start a neighborhood bible study or start a discovery bible study on your lunch hour at work and invite co-workers to join you. Give yourselves to the Lord’s work. He is with you, is protecting you, and has predestined a people. Don’t lie back and do nothing! Get involved in the Lord’s work.
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