Sharing the gospel with the world is always going to be met with mixed responses. 

Some hear, are enraged by it, and seek to attack the message and the messenger. 

Some hear, are indifferent to it, and walk away with ears that decline to hear further. 

But some, oh friends the some, who hear, and the words of truth, the words of life, of God’s love and His light, connect directly with the work the Holy Spirit was already beginning in their heart. 

In so many passages we have already discussed, God’s work for you and I as Ambassadors of Christ, is to KNOW God’s message, LIVE God’s message, and to SHARE God’s message. 

• Matthew 28:19 tells us to Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, Baptizing them, Teaching them, so that the lost may be saved and they church may grow.

• In Matthew 13, Jesus taught the parable of the Sower and the seed. 

• The seed is the gospel – The Sower is you and I – the soil is the various conditions of the hearts of the people we share the gospel with. 

• We are not responsible for the soil – the condition of a person’s heart is a matter known only between them and God.

• And we are not responsible for the seed – other than to share it truthfully, faithfully, and generously. 

• In 2 Corinthians 5:17-19, we are told Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s trespasses against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

There are so many ways to share the gospel with people. 

Every conversation you have with people is an opportunity to discuss God’s Holiness, His Righteousness, and mankind’s rebellion and wickedness as God is ignored, rejected, or mocked. 

To discuss God’s “justness,” His judgment, and righteous wrath on those who abandon the very purpose for which they were created – to give glory to God. 

And every conversation you have with people is an opportunity to turn the conversation to one of God’s love.

- His long-suffering, His mercy and His offer of salvation to those who will trust in the scriptures, believe on the person and works of Jesus Christ – 

-Repent from their sinful ways and commit to following the one who died that they might be forgiven and live. 

Friends, consider who you would still be were it not for the truth of God’s word finding its way into YOUR heart!

• Who would you be?
• What would your life look like?
• And whether you admitted it at that time or not – where would have been your eternal destination were it not for God’s grace and your faith to believe?

Understand that every person who was ever lived – every person who lives today – and every person yet to be born – 

Will spend all of eternity in heaven – or in hell.

And the difference in these destinations is what a person believes in their heart regarding God and His only begotten Son, Christ Jesus the Lord. 

Understand the simple yet bold truth in this passage- John 3:18

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

All of the effective evangelists we have ever known understood and believed that truth and it motivated them to greater works than they would have ever been possible of on their own.

John the Baptist – George Whitefield – Billy Graham – Charlie Kirk

Men like this KNEW that heaven and hell was on the line for the people they walked past every day. 

And they were determined to do their part to share the truth with as many as they might.

The Apostle Paul KNEW this – and the personal calling on his life from the Lord to be the Apostle to the Gentiles weighed heavily on him as made his way from city to city.

I can imagine the encouragement in his heart when people like those in Athens were wiling to hear more and allow Paul to reason with them concerning the Word of God. 

I can imagine the joy in his heart when people heard, believed, and received Jesus Christ as their Savior, committing to follow Him and to become more beacons of light in a very dark and sin-filled world. 

I can also imagine the pain and frustration in his heart for those who had NO ears to hear, NO heart to receive and only anger and hostility toward the message and the messenger of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Paul was now about half-way through his second missionary journey through these Gentile lands. He had gone through parts of Syria, Galatia, and into Macedonia. 

After leaving Athens, Paul now came to the city of Corinth, where he would end up staying for year and half!

Like many of the cities Paul and the companions travelled to, Corinth was a significant city. It was a cultural melting pot of Greeks, Romans and many other cultures. 

Corinth was known for it's trade and commerce, given it's location along the land bridge between the Ionian and Aegian seas it controlled two harbors connecting Greece to the city of Athens. Several made trade industries ran through Corinth. 

Corinth was also well known for it's… other attractions. Pagan worship centers were found in abundance, but the patron goddess was Aphroditie – for which there was a temple of great splendor. 

It was said that each night, one thousand temple priestesses, who were prostitutes by trade, would go out into the city to practice their trade. 

The population was large, and largely transitory as merchants moved product by land and by sea through this pivotal city. 

It was a popular destination city and stop over which afforded travelers all manner of entertainments that satisfied the flesh.

Idolatry. Immorality. Power, and Pleasure were the rule of the day. Festivals to some god or another seemed to be almost perpetually ongoing.

Obi Wan Kenobi would have described the city by declaring, “Ahh Corinth. A more wretched hive and scum and villainy you’ll never find.”

Today we catch up with Paul as he stands on the outskirts of this cosmopolitan city taking in the sights, the sounds and the smell of the city. 

Silas and Timothy had not yet caught up with him, though he had sent a letter to them to do so. 

Surely Paul wondered what challenges lay before him here as he sought to share with these people the word of the One, True God. 

Let’s find out!

Acts 18:1-4

After these things he left Athens and went to Corinth. ² And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, having recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. He came to them, ³ and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and they were working, for by trade they were tent-makers. ⁴ And he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.

Let’s get to know Aquila and his wife Priscilla a little bit- 

This husband-and-wife team would become close friends and allies of Paul in the coming years. Even risking their own lives for him!.

Our passage tells us Paul found them – God has this amazing way of putting the right people in our path at the right time. 

• Or of putting you in someone else’s path at the right time!
  • (George Graham is big part of the reason I am Pine Grove!)

• Aquila and Priscilla had recently come to Corinth from Italy – 

• You may recall from a previous message that in about 49AD Emperor Claudius had commanded all of the Jews out of Rome. 

• The Jews were a constant scapegoat for Roman emperors. 

• Often when there were economic, cultural, or even environmental problems – it was blamed on the Jewish people. 

• However, during this time a brief excerpt from the historical writing, “Divus Claudius”reports that Claudius expelled Jews from the city of Rome because of constant disturbances made at the instigation of “Chrestus”. (Christos) – Christ

• There is some debate among theologians as to WHEN the church in Rome was founded – but it does appear that the name of Jesus Christ was already causing a stir!

• It appears from scripture that Aquila and Priscilla were already followers of Christ Jesus. We see no mention of Paul sharing the gospel with them, their conversion, or their baptism. 

• Perhaps they heard and believed while in Rome, or at some other opportunity where the gospel was preached – OR – for those of you who go looking for all the creation connection theories…

• We are told specifically that Aquila was from the city of Pontus.

• In Acts 2:10 – Pentecost – with the roaring wind and the people speaking in tongues – and the 3000 who believed in one day – 

• Scripture says that among the crowd was people from a list of cities – among them? Rome AND Pontus. ????

Regardless – we have two take-away lessons from this first section of passages

#1) Focus on the ministry – not the money

 ³ and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and they were working, for by trade they were tent-makers. 

We are not sure where Paul picked up this trade. 

But what Paul was clear on was his own understanding and guidance from the Holy Spirit that the work of ministry is to be a labor of love – not a means to an end!

1 Thessalonians 2:8-9 We cared so deeply that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our own lives as well. That is how beloved you have become to us. For you recall, brethren, our labor and hardship, how working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.

2 Thessalonians 3:7-9 ⁷ For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example, because we did not act in an undisciplined manner among you, ⁸ nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with labor and hardship we kept working night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you; ⁹ not because we do not have the right to this, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you, so that you would follow our example.

You, me, Pastor Dennis – we do the work of ministry FIRST out of love for our Lord and Savior who did the work, who died on the cross, and who rose again so that our sins might be forgiven, and we could receive the gift of eternal life.

We do the work of ministry SECOND for the love of others – 

• To build up, equip and encourage the saints.

• And for those who have not yet heard, not yet believed, not yet been saved – so that, we pray, that by God’s grace and through our ministry they will hear, receive, believe, and be rescued from God’s coming judgement on the un-reconciled. 

We DO NOT due the work of ministry to earn a paycheck! 

• To receive gifts in the flesh.
• To become wealthy in the ways of man or promise the same to others. 

Titus 1:10-11 For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach - for the sake of sordid gain.

I will teach the word of God. I will preach the word of God. 

If I am paid for the ministry or not – Because I first and foremost do the work of ministry for my Lord – and second for the sake of the church and for those who are perishing. 

And I encourage you all to do likewise. 

Being obedient and following the teachings of Jesus is not about what I can get from Him – it’s about how I can give back to Him who gave all to me.

Being a faithful servant in the church is not about what I can pocket from that – but what I can offer to the church – which is a ministry unto God.

#2    A good season for reason ⁴ And he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.

This was Paul’s way. The greatest evangelizer recorded by scripture – was to REASON with people.

God declared in Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, and let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall become like wool.”

God does not yell at people. 

Paul did not attack people with the gospel of Jesus Christ, as is the way of some. 

God and Paul and all the other effective evangelists I have ever studied, reasoned with people. 

• Preaching, teaching, discussing, using logic and reason to by many convincing truths trying to win people over from their arrogance, their resistance, and their denial of the truth of the word of God. 

Acts 18:5-6

⁵ But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely to the word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. ⁶ But when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” 

Again – TWO POINTS can be made here-

#1) To those who are devoted completely to the word- 

When Paul and Silas finally caught up with Paul, they apparently were able to provide works of service for pay that freed Paul up to devote himself completely to the preaching of the word. 

This too is a biblical principle for the church for those whom God calls into full time ministry – 

1 Corinthians 9:14 So also the Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel. 

• (Paul recognized his eligibility for this honor, but often chose not to exercise it for fear that people would believe he was only preaching for money)

1 Timothy 5:17-18 Elders who lead effectively are worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. / For the Scripture says, “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,” and, “The worker is worthy of his wages.”

#2) To those who resist and blaspheme the word of God.

⁶ But when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” 

This is an area “I” feel where some who evangelize, get it wrong – 

I have borne witness of some who speak toward persons or crowds in such a way that leaves little hope of the love and hope that we have in Christ Jesus being effectively communicated. 

We can anticipate resistance – we can expect that those who are committed to the sins of the flesh will resist in word and deed the words of repentance and forgiveness. 

Jesus said - And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city. 

Matthew 10:14-15

• This speaks to the attitude of those who would proclaim the Word of God. 

• We are the messenger, we are the Sower, we are the workers of the field of the ministry of reconciliation. 

• God is EVERYTHING ELSE!

HOWEVER – there were times when there was a BOLD REBUKE from the messengers of God’s word. 

And it was reserved for those WHO OUGHT TO HAVE KNOWN – and yet rejected challenged and mocked the message of Truth. 

John the Baptist – to the Pharisees who came to question his message-

Matthew 3:7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

Jesus – to the Pharisees who had so often challenged, mocked, and made false accusations of him- 

Matthew 23:27-28 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. ²⁸ In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

And here, PAUL – after declaring the truth of Jesus as the Christ – the fulfillment of the prophetic promises – heard the response of the Jews in Corinth to resist that truth and blaspheme the name of Jesus. 

• Blasphemy – the offense of speaking with contempt, mockingly, irreverently toward the being, word or work of God. 

Blasphemy, by definition, is an intentional act done knowingly and directly. 

God does not take blasphemy lightly.

Galatians 6:7-8 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

FOR ALL THE REPEATED REJECTION and blasphemy on the part of those who called themselves Jews – God’s people – Paul declared to them that their blood – their judgement – was on them. 

They had heard, they had rejected, and Paul would henceforth focus himself on the Gentiles – to whom God had sent him as an apostle – a messenger – with the message of life!

Throughout scripture this has been the message – the judgement for wickedness rests on the head of the wrongdoer. 

God does not judge or condemn mankind because He is the author of evil – NO! MAY IT NEVER BE!

God judges and condemns mankind by their own words, their own deeds, the works of their own hands. 

Romans 2:5-6

But because of your hard and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. / God “will repay each one according to his deeds.”

Revelation 20:12

And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.

Matthew 12:36-37

But I tell you that men will give an account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.  For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”

As for you and I - When it comes to those who reject our ministry – 

Here is the best teaching on rejection I can find in scripture – It has less to do with the attitude of those who reject and blaspheme – you and I have no control over that – 

It has everything to do with our attitude as we confront a fallen world with God’s Holy Word. 

Romans 12:14-21

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,” says the Lord. “BUT IF YOUR ENEMY IS HUNGRY, FEED HIM, AND IF HE IS THIRSTY, GIVE HIM A DRINK; FOR IN SO DOING YOU WILL HEAP BURNING COALS ON HIS HEAD.” Do not be overcome by evil- but overcome evil with good.

Acts 18:7-8

⁷ Then he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God, whose house was next to the synagogue. ⁸ Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his household, and many of the Corinthians when they heard were believing and being baptized.

Titius Justus is a Roman name – therefore this man was apparently a proselyte of the Jewish faith. 

Born a Roman, born a Gentile – but having come to know the God of Israel as the One, True God and having committed his life to knowing and worshipping Him.

How sad – that while the Jews inside the Synagogue rejected Paul’s teaching of the Christ who had come – a Gentile heard the teaching and believed. 

As Paul walked out of the synagogue that rejected Jesus – he was invited into the home of Titius, who had heard and believed. 

And don’t miss this encouraging part – Not ALL of the Jews in that town rejected Jesus as the Christ

Crispus – the leader of that synagogue also heard Paul’s reasoning and believed – he and his whole household. 

And others among the Corinthians heard and believed – and they were all baptized – making public confessions of their faith in Jesus as their Lord and Savior and committing to serve Him the rest of their days. 

Friends, always remember – we share the message of salvation with ALL – Because while not all will hear, believe, and be saved … SOME WILL!

Acts 18:9-11

 ⁹ And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, “Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent; ¹⁰ for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city.” ¹¹ And he settled there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

God’s encouragement to Paul was to keep on keeping on!

Although he had faced persecution, prosecution, and physical harm in the past – God assured Him that in this city, that would not be the case. 

And the work of his ministry would pay off in seeing the message of reconciliation effectively save many. 

Understand this – God has a plan – and He is firmly in control of His plan. 

Any harm that comes your way for being an Ambassador for Christ is with the approval of our God. Therefore, if He has allowed it, I will not curse it.

Instead, I will seek to use the suffering for His name’s sake – for the sake of the One who suffered and died for my sins – and find the purpose for my pain.

Be encouraged by these words from 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 

For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Acts 18:12-13

¹² But while Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him before the judgment seat, ¹³ saying, “This man persuades men to worship God contrary to the law.” 

The Jews in the city *were not happy* with how these things were turning out. 

They had rejected Paul – rejected his teaching – rejected Jesus as the Christ and blasphemedHis name. 

AND YET – Crispus – the leader of that synagogue and his whole household had believed, left the synagogue and joined Paul. 

Many other Jews from the synagogue had joined this upstart ecclesia as well. 

And not only that – but many Gentiles also!  - It was unbearable!!

And so they took the matter before the Roman court in Corinth – before Gallio the proconsul (Governor) of the region. 

The charge was brought by the newly appointed leader of the synagogue, Sosthenes. 

The accusation being that Paul should be tried for violations of the Mosaic Law – in declaring that this “Jesus of Nazareth” was the Christ – The Messiah – Immanuel, God with us. 

I will again speak to the attitude a follower of Jesus Christ ought to maintain in times like these from the Word of God- 

1 Peter 3:13-16

Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. AND DO NOT FEAR THEIR INTIMIDATION, AND DO NOT BE TROUBLED, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame.

As it turned out – God was in control – as He had declared to Paul – and as Paul opened his mouth to make his defense and proclaim that truth this court – God intervened – 

Acts 18:14-17

¹⁴ But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrong or of vicious crime, O Jews, it would be reasonable for me to put up with you; 

¹⁵ but if there are questions about words and names and your own law, look after it yourselves; I am unwilling to be a judge of these matters.” 

¹⁶ And he drove them away from the judgment seat. ¹⁷ And they all took hold of Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and began beating him in front of the judgment seat. But Gallio was not concerned about any of these things.

Gallio had no affection for the Jews, their religion, or their internal bickering as he perceived it. 

He was governor over a complex region of the Roman empire with all the give and take to maintain peaceful and prosperous environment in Corinth for the sake of Rome. (Not to mention his own good health!)

Gallio immediately wrote off their complaint. It had no foundation in Roman law – it had no element of violence or vicious crime – and therefore he swiftly dismissed them from his court. 

Sosthenes is an interesting study as well – thrust into the seat of leadership – his first big test as leader of the synagogue did not go as planned. 

Luke does not tell us who took hold of him and began beating him. 

• Was it the other Jews for failing to effectively bring the matter of this new teaching to an end?

• Was it the Greeks, angry at him for attempting to stir up a religious confrontation in Corinth?  - We don’t know.

But here is an interesting note – 

Paul would go on in later times to write several letters to the church in Corinth to encourage, and to correct false teaching that crept in. 

We have two of those letters in scripture – and, in 1 Corinthians 1:1 we read this:  

Paul, called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,

To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling,

A man named Sosthenes here is found partnering with Paul, perhaps in a secretarial role or as a scribe. 

• Same man? We do not know for sure. 

• But as we have seen in scripture over and over again – Regardless of a person’s PAST – they can have an eternal FUTURE in God’s grace –

• IF – they will hear the message of the truth regarding their sin before God who is Holy – accept that they are worthy of God’s judgement.

• Accept that Jesus is God’s only begotten Son who died on the cross to make a payment for their sins – 

• And rose from the tomb – to assure that all who trust in Him will rise to eternal life as well. 

“All who call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” AMEN?

Then church – let us maintain the attitude that Christ has modeled for us – 

Let us maintain the commitment that Paul has modeled for us.

And let us be the Ambassadors, the messengers of the ministry of reconciliation that God has called us to be.