30 December 2012
I. Introduction
-- turn in
Bibles to Acts 18:1-11
Acts 18:1-11 (NIV)
1 After this, Paul left Athens
and went to Corinth
2 There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus , who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius
had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome
3 and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and
worked with them.
4 Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to
persuade Jews and Greeks.
5 When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia
6 But when the Jews opposed Paul and became abusive, he
shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, "Your blood be on your
own heads! I am clear of my responsibility. From now on I will go to the
Gentiles."
7 Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the
house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God.
8 Crispus, the synagogue ruler, and his entire household
believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard him believed and
were baptized.
9 One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: "Do not
be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent.
10 For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm
you, because I have many people in this city."
11 So Paul stayed for a year and a half, teaching them the
word of God.
-- well, it's over -- after weeks of frantic activity -- after weeks of buying and decorating trees and putting up lights -- after weeks of shopping and wrapping presents -- of going to Christmas parties and preparing special meals and goodies only made once a year -- Christmas came and went with a whisper -- just a moment in time -- and now it's done and gone
-- you'd think that given the amount of time and preparation that we put into Christmas, that we'd see it last a lot longer than it does -- you'd think Christmas would be something that would linger -- a celebration that would at least last as long as the time of preparation -- but by Christmas Day, the gifts are opened, the food has been eaten, and plans are being made to take the decorations down
-- just think for a moment about how much time you spent preparing for Christmas and how quick it was over -- much like the first coming of Christ to this world
-- the world looked for the coming of the Messiah for 4,000 years -- the Jews spent thousands of years preparing the people to receive their King -- but despite all their years of preparation -- despite all the time they took getting ready and decorating their temple with religious trapping, when He came, He really was not with us that long
-- Jesus only lived 33 years on this earth -- and other than the two stories in Matthew and Luke about His birth and the one account of Jesus being left in the temple as a boy of 12, we know nothing about how He spent the first 30 years of His life
-- really, all we know about Jesus is what He did during the last three years of His life -- the three years of His ministry that culminated in the cross and the empty tomb
-- and I
bring this up to make a point -- if before even the creation of this world, the
plan had been for Jesus to come to earth to be our Savior and to show wayward
humans the way back to the Father -- if God had prepared the people for 4,000
years to get ready for the coming of the Messiah through His word and His
prophets, it seems to me that He would have spent more time on earth with us than
just 33 years
-- and
certainly it seems that if His mission was so great as to cause the death of
His one and only Son, that He would have spent more than just three years out
of His short 33 years of life directly ministering to us
-- His time
here was brief, to say the least -- and that makes me wonder why -- and that
makes me wonder what we are to do with this after-Christmas Jesus-- C.S. Lewis once wrote that “a great many things have gone wrong with this world that God made -- and God insists, and insists very loudly, on our putting them right again”
-- this is the reason for Christmas -- this is why Jesus came to us as the incarnate Messiah 2,000 years ago
-- He came to
show us how to live in God's kingdom -- He came to put things right in the
world again through His death -- He came to give us power through His very
presence indwelling us -- and then He returned to us the original
responsibility given to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden -- the
responsibility to take care of this world and of all He has created
-- in his
essay, "The Mood of Christmas," Howard Thurman wrote:
--
"When the song of the angels is stilled -- When the star in the sky is
gone -- When the kings and princes are home -- When the shepherds are back with
their flock --The work of Christmas begins:
-- "To find the lost -- To heal the broken -- To feed the hungry -- To release the prisoner -- To rebuild the nations -- To bring peace among people -- To make music in the heart."
-- Jesus
stayed no longer than necessary to put all things right once again and to give
us the power to do the work of Christmas -- He restored the world through His
death -- He broke the chains of sin and death through His resurrection -- and
then He left this earth and returned to Heaven, leaving us as His stewards and
instruments of His grace in this world
-- so what
do we do with an after-Christmas Jesus? -- what do we do now that Jesus has
left and Christmas is over? -- we continue on with the work He started -- we
complete the mission Adam and Eve failed to do -- we take back the night and
usher in the light of Christ into this world-- Christ told us in the Great Commission given in Matthew 28:18-20 what to do -- He said to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all the things He commanded us to do
-- but what
does that look like? -- it's an easy passage to memorize -- it's an easy
passage to talk about within the safe confines of a Sunday worship service --
but what does this look like in practice? -- how do we fulfill the Great
Commission? -- how do we the work of Christmas?
--
educators tell us there are two primary ways of learning -- you either learn by
doing -- by hands-on education -- learning on-the-job, if you will -- or you
learn by example -- by watching what someone else does and then applying it in
your own life-- the church doesn't do a great job any more with teaching by doing -- but that's a direction that I would like to see us go -- for example, the bags that we prepared at Christmas to pass out to people working on Christmas Day was designed to teach by doing -- rather than just donating money or resources, this ministry requires us to get our hands dirty and to go into uncomfortable settings to pass on the love of Christ through a simple gift -- I'd like to see us do more of this kind of thing in the future because this is a great way to learn how to do more than just talk about ministry -- it teaches us how to do ministry
-- but, that said, clearly we can't teach by doing very well in a Sunday morning worship service, so we are left with learning by example
-- and so this morning we are going to look at a passage from Acts 18 to see how the Apostle Paul did the work of Christmas in his day so we might learn to follow his example and do the same in our own communities and areas of influence
-- before we turn back to the Scriptures, let me give you the context of this passage -- Acts 18 finds the Apostle Paul in the midst of his second missionary journey -- this trip throughout the lands of the Mediterranean started with an argument -- a sharp dispute with his partner Barnabas -- and that spirit of contention followed Paul throughout his journey
-- in Philippi Paul and Silas were thrown in prison because of their ministry -- in Thessalonica and Berea Paul found himself at odds with the Jews and was forced to flee these cities because of their threats against him -- and then in Athens, Paul was rejected by the Greeks with his talk of the resurrection -- Acts 18 finds Paul moving yet again, from Athens to the city of Corinth
-- if you
would, please look back at verse 1 here and lets see what we can learn about
doing the work of Christmas through Paul's ministry in Corinth
-- verse 1
Acts 18:1-11 (NIV)
1 After this, Paul left Athens
and went to Corinth
2 There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus , who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius
had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome
3 and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and
worked with them.
4 Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to
persuade Jews and Greeks.
5 When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia
-- so when he arrived in
-- there's a lesson there for us -- God's plan was not for us to minister alone, but to minister and to serve alongside others -- when Jesus sent out His disciples to minister in the region around Judea, He didn't send them alone -- He sent them out in pairs -- and we read in Ecclesiastes 4:9, "Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work"
-- Paul's example to us is to seek the company and support of another Christian as we seek to do the work of Christmas -- that doesn't mean we use this as an excuse to not share the gospel or not minister to those in need -- if you are the only one there, God certainly expects you to do as Paul did in Athens and to speak and act in His name -- but the best option is to minister with someone else to share the load and to offer support and encouragement
-- verse 6
6 But when the Jews opposed Paul and became abusive, he
shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, "Your blood be on your
own heads! I am clear of my responsibility. From now on I will go to the
Gentiles."
7 Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the
house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God.
8 Crispus, the synagogue ruler, and his entire household
believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard him believed and
were baptized.
-- the
world will always be filled with two kinds of people -- those who receive the word of God with
gladness and trust and believe in Jesus as their Savior and those who reject
Jesus and His gospel of grace
-- when you
do the work of Christmas, expect opposition -- expect rejection -- Jesus was
rejected from the moment He was born as we read in Matthew of Herod trying to
take His life -- Paul was rejected by his own people and cast out of the
synagogues in every town he went to -- and you will experience the same
rejection as you try to do the work of Christmas in this world today-- but know that when you face opposition and rejection, it is not you they are opposing -- it is not you they are rejecting -- they are rejecting the person of Christ -- they are opposing the message of the gospel because their eyes have been blinded by the god of this age and they do not want to come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed
-- opposition and rejection will come -- but, on the other hand, so will acceptance -- when Paul was forced to leave the synagogue in Corinth because of the Jew's opposition, he turned to the Gentiles and saw great fruit among them -- many of the Corinthians heard the message of grace and believed in Jesus as their Lord and Savior and were baptized
-- if you persevere in doing the work of Christmas, you will see fruit -- when Brooke and I went out to pass out the bags to workers on Christmas, I have to say I was a little disheartened at first -- we went to three jiffy stores and passed out bags to the people working there -- the response was not great -- they took the bags like they were poisonous snakes and were not thankful at all -- they didn't want what we had to offer -- it wasn't what I hoped it would be and I was a little disappointed
-- but then we went to a few other places, and the response was different -- the workers were genuinely excited to receive the little gift we had -- they smiled and thanked us and some even gave us hugs -- all for a bag with just a little bit of candy and cookies
-- that's the way it is when you do the work of Christmas -- that's what we see here in Paul's ministry -- some will reject what you have to offer -- but others will receive the good news of Christ with open hearts and open arms, just as Luke says many of the Corinthians did
-- verse 9
9 One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: "Do not
be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent.
10 For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm
you, because I have many people in this city."
11 So Paul stayed for a year and a half, teaching them the
word of God.
-- I picture him as a man who never gave up -- who never faltered in the face of opposition -- who always picked himself up and kept going no matter what came against him -- a man who was always strong and never doubted
-- but these verses tend to say otherwise -- Paul was a man like us -- and there were times when he was afraid -- when he was discouraged -- when he despaired
-- can you imagine what it felt like to be rejected time and time again by your own kin? -- to only find welcome in the arms of strangers?
-- I think there were times when Paul felt like giving up -- and I think Paul may have been in that state of mind while he was in Corinth -- so God spoke to Paul in a vision and encouraged him -- He told Paul to not be afraid, but to keep on speaking -- for He was with him and would never leave him or forsake him
-- and then at the end of verse 10, the Lord tells Paul the reason why he should not give up -- "I have many people in this city"
-- why would Paul be afraid if he was surrounded by great numbers of believers? -- why would he doubt if he was seeing this much fruit from his ministry?
-- I think God was giving Paul a glimpse of the harvest to come -- I think God was telling Paul to stay, because there were many in the city of
-- Jesus had many people in the city of
-- but I believe this message of God to Paul is true for us, as well -- there are many people in this city who belong to Jesus -- they just don't know it yet
-- there are many people in this city who need to hear the gospel -- who need to know the love of Christ -- and who Jesus promises will come to Him -- and He wants us to be the ones to reach them
-- we know by experience that there are people in this city who are not being reached by the traditional churches -- people who have been overlooked and who are struggling in the shadow of the steeples
-- we have seen some of these people respond to Christ through the ministry He has given us here at Koinonia -- and I believe there are many more that He is calling for us to reach
-- it's just a matter of trusting in God's word and persevering in the work to which He has called us -- Paul responded to this vision of God by staying in Corinth for a year and half -- longer than he had spent at any city prior to this time
-- I'm sure it wasn't easy -- I'm sure he faced continual difficulty and opposition -- but many were added to the church through Paul's ministry in that place -- and I believe that God wants us to continue on and minister in His name so many might be added to His church in this place
IV. Closing
-- there’s
a song that we occasionally sing here in church -- "God of This City"
-- -- it was originally written and performed by a group from Ireland called,
“Blue Tree,” but it really took off when Chris Tomlin released it -- when I
started thinking about doing the work of Christmas and the message of God to
Paul in Corinth, I couldn’t help but think about this song -- the story behind it is remarkable and speaks to what an after-Christmas Jesus does in our world today -- I know some of you know this story, but maybe not all of you -- so let me share it with you this morning
-- the band Blue Tree had been invited by some friends to travel to Thailand to be part of a Christian worship event -- the lead singer for the group wrote that this was the darkest place anyone would ever go to -- physically and spiritually -- they said you can just feel the evil there -- you can just feel the enemy all over that place
-- the band played for several days in a resort area there in Thailand -- and they said it was great -- they really experienced God’s presence there -- but they felt called to do more -- and so they told their friends, “If you can get us anywhere else to play -- anywhere -- we want to play -- we just want to do what we do in the middle of somewhere and go head-on [against the evil in this place]”
-- there was a bar there in Thailand called the Climax Bar -- it’s on a street that is filled with every vice imaginable -- thousands of prostitutes -- including children as young as eight and nine years old selling themselves on the street to whoever wanted them -- drugs -- alcohol -- gambling -- a den of iniquity -- a cesspool of evil
-- the owners of this bar said that Blue Tree could come in and sing if they brought a group of people with them and if the people agreed to buy drinks during the entire show -- the owners didn’t know that Blue Tree was a Christian band -- in fact, the band said most of the people there didn’t even speak English -- all the owners wanted was to get someone in there who would spend money
-- it turns out the bar was a strip club and brothel -- but Blue Tree still went and played -- and for two hours -- standing right there on the stage next to the stripper poles -- Blue Tree lifted God up in praise
-- in the middle of the darkness, they did the same thing that Paul did in Corinth -- they did the same thing that God is calling us to do today -- they praised Him for what He had done -- they praised Him for His miracles -- for His forgiveness of sin -- for His victory over death
-- and as they were singing, God spoke to the band -- all of a sudden, the lead singer started singing the phrase, “Greater things,” over and over again -- and he said it felt like God was prophesying over that city -- over the evil in that land
-- the words just came -- the music followed -- and before they knew it, God had given them the song, “God Of This City” -- played for the first time on earth in a brothel -- played for the first time on earth in a place of evil -- played to proclaim God’s presence and plan for the people in that city in Thailand
-- here’s the words that God gave them that night:
-- "You’re
the God of this city -- you’re the King of these people -- You’re the Lord of
this nation -- You are
-- You’re
the light in this darkness -- You’re the hope to the hopeless -- You’re the
peace to the restless -- You are-- There is no one like our God -- There is no one like our God
-- For greater things have yet to come -- and greater things are still to be done in this City -- For greater things have yet to come -- and greater things are still to be done here
-- We believe -- We believe in you, God"
-- the
message of this song is the same one that Jesus brought when He was born in a
manger over 2,000 years ago -- it's the same message that He carried up the
hill of Calvary -- it's the same message that burst forth from the tomb on
Easter morning -- it's the same message that Paul proclaimed in Corinth and the
same message we are called to proclaim here in Valdosta
-- God is
in the business of doing great things -- that is what Christmas is all about --
God has done great things -- but greater things have yet to come -- greater
things are still to be done -- for there are many people in this city who
belong to Jesus that He wants us to reach because we can do it where no one
else can
-- the
question before us this morning is, “What greater things does God want to do in
this place? What greater things does God want to do in you?”
--
Christmas may be over, but Christ is not done -- the after-Christmas Jesus
calls us to action this morning -- He is calling us to carry His light to the
darkness -- His hope to the hopeless -- His peace to the restless -- He is calling us to greater things -- so as I close, let me ask, will you commit to His call right now? -- will you leave here and do the work of Christmas in this new year?
-- let us pray
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