Devoted to Sharing Jesus - Life of Paul Part 53

How about taking a Bible, let's open it together, to the book of Acts chapter 18.

We're going to continue in our study of the life of the great man, the apostle Paul, Acts chapter 18. And I want to show you a picture to start with. This is me and my good friend Dan McKinnon. And you say, well, I didn't know you were such a stud, Lon. Well, I am.

So you just didn't know it, I'm sorry. But anyway, this was taken out in the High Sierras out of Hume Lake and every year when I go out there, Dan and I go riding motocross up in the Sierras. And one year, I want to tell you a true story, one year we were up there riding together and we were riding on this one-lane dirt road that kind of ran along the side of a mountain. On the right-hand side of the road was the wall of the mountain and on the left-hand side of the road was a cliff that dropped several hundred feet down the side of the mountain. And we were riding along and I was riding about 20 yards behind him and it was one of these incredibly curving roads where you could only see about maybe 50 yards in front of you at the most before the road kept disappearing around the curve. And so as we were riding along down through this road, suddenly I saw Dan begin to frantically wave his arm right as he disappeared around a curve in front of me. And I wasn't exactly sure what in the world was going on but I figured, well, just to be safe, maybe I ought to pull over like on the side and so I just kind of stopped and pulled over right against the wall of the mountain and all of a sudden around this curve comes this 18-wheel logging truck full of logs just throwing dust like an Oklahoma tornado and went right by me. I barely stayed alive on the side of the road. If I'd have been out in the middle of the road, which is where I was when he started waving his hand, man, I'd have been bug goop, you know, on the front of the bumper of this truck is what I would have been.

I'd have been a goner for sure. And later on I said to him, I said, wow, I said, it's a really good thing that you waved your hand like that. And he said, I'd have done the same for a friend. And I said, well, I appreciate that. But you know, the point of all this is when you see danger up ahead, I mean, it's kind of your duty, it's kind of your responsibility to warn the people who are in its path.

I mean, wouldn't you agree with that? Well, that's kind of what we want to talk about tonight. And so I want us to look at the life of Paul.

And we're going to talk about this subject. But first, let's kind of see the passage that that grows out of a little bit of background. Remember, the Apostle Paul has left Athens and has gone 53 miles southwest to the town of Corinth. And remember, we said last week that the town of Corinth was located on a three and a half mile wide isthmus. This isthmus was kind of like the Panama Canal for the ancient world. Ships rather than sailing around the south of Greece, and out into the Mediterranean Sea where their ships would be exposed to the gales and the storms in the Mediterranean, they would either sail in from the east in the Aegean Sea, or they would sail in from the west on the Ionian Sea, both of these very calm inland seas, and then they would transfer their cargo across this isthmus. And that is how most of the commerce in the trade in the eastern Mediterranean moved at the time of the Apostle Paul. Now Corinth, because it sat right on this isthmus, became the stopping point for all of this trade, all of this commerce. Corinth became a city of enormous wealth, of enormous influence, and Corinth, we estimate, had 200,000 people living there at the time of the Apostle Paul, making it one of the true megacities of the Roman Empire. Well, this is where the Apostle Paul went, and when he got here in the fall of 51 AD, the fall of 51 AD, you remember last week we saw he met up with two people named Priscilla and Aquila.

They were a husband and wife team, two Jewish believers who had come from Rome and were living in Corinth, and all three of them discovered they were tent makers, so they went into business together. Monday to Friday the Apostle Paul worked for a living. On the weekends he preached Jesus, and verse 4 here says that every Sabbath Paul reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Gentiles, as was his custom. The Apostle Paul started his preaching ministry in Corinth, where he started his preaching ministry in every city, and that is at the Jewish synagogue in that town. Now that's what we saw last week.

This week we want to pick up, and let's see what happens next. Verse 5, and when Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. Remember, Paul had left Silas and Timothy here in Berea and Thessalonica. He had left them here to look after the young believers left behind when the Apostle Paul got run out of town. And so now they come down to Corinth from Berea and Thessalonica, they make their way down, and they finally join up with the Apostle Paul down here in Corinth.

Remember there's still one member of the team missing, and that's Dr. Luke. Remember Dr. Luke is still up here in Philippi taking care of the church there. And when Timothy and Silas show up, they show up with some really good news. The good news they show up with is that the believers in Thessalonica and the believers in Berea were going on for the Lord. The Apostle Paul was worried that with all the persecution that was going on in these towns, with him being run out of town by mobs, he was worried that these young believers there were going to, well that they were going to spiritually collapse. But when Timothy and Silas show up, they tell him, no they're not collapsing, that they're doing fine. Paul actually refers to this, reflects upon this, in a letter that he wrote to the church of Thessalonica from Corinth, and we call it today 1 Thessalonians. He wrote it right about this time, and look what he said. He said 1 Thessalonians 3, when we were with you, we kept telling you that we would be persecuted for the faith.

And it turned out that way as you well know. I was worried, Paul said, that you would be unsettled by such treatment. So I sent Timothy to strengthen and encourage you in your faith. When did he do that?

Well right before he got run out of town from Berea and came to Athens. Then he goes on to say Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news about your faith. Therefore, in all my distress and persecution, I am encouraged since I hear that you are standing firm in the Lord. This piece of good news that Timothy and Silas brought were like a spiritual shot in the arm for the Apostle Paul, just lifted his spirits. But you know Timothy and Silas also brought something else when they arrived and that is they also brought an offering, money from the church of Philippi to give to the ministry of the Apostle Paul. Paul refers to that in a letter he later writes to the church at Corinth. He refers back to this and here's what he says, 2 Corinthians 11. He says, I robbed other churches by receiving support from them in order to serve you in Corinth.

For when I was with you and needed something, I was not a financial burden to you. I didn't ask you guys for a penny for when Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, where Philippi is, they supplied what I needed. Now one of the wonderful benefits of this offering arriving with Silas and Timothy is that for a while the Apostle Paul didn't need to work. For a while he had enough money to meet his needs and that's why this verse says that now he could devote himself exclusively to preaching because he didn't have to work Monday to Friday anymore and so that's what Paul did. Instead of just being at the synagogue now on the weekends, the Apostle Paul went there every day. He was there for morning prayer meeting. He was there for evening prayer meeting. He was there for midweek Bible study. Whenever anybody came to the synagogue, guess who they found? They found Paul explaining and trying to tell them about Jesus.

He became a permanent fixture at the synagogue. How did that go? Well, let's look. Verse 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. Now the word here translated opposed, they opposed Paul, is a military word. It means to set yourself up in battle array and what the Bible is telling us here is that this unbelieving Jewish community in Corinth, that they set themselves up in battle array against the message of Jesus Christ. That they opposed the message of Jesus Christ that Paul was bringing in the same way that you'd oppose an invading army and that they weren't nice about it either. But that they became abusive, the Bible says. It got really ugly. You say, well, what exactly happened? I don't know, but it got ugly. And finally Paul said, all right, that's it.

That's it. I was willing to talk to you. I was willing to be patient with you. I was willing to do anything you ask, but if you're going to get abusive about the whole thing, now the Bible says he shook off his clothes against them.

He said, what in the world is that? Well, remember what Jesus said, Luke chapter nine, when he sent the disciples out to preach, he said, if the people in a town do not welcome you, shake the dust off your feet as a testimony of judgment against them. And this is exactly what the apostle Paul did here.

This is a biblical motif that these Jewish people would have understood perfectly well. It was an act of judgment. It was an act of rejection. It was an act of repudiation.

Paul said, Hey, fellas, I've done everything I know how to reach you guys. I've talked with you, reasoned with you, studied the Old Testament with you, been patient with you, but not only have you rejected the message of Jesus Christ, but now you become hostile. And now you've gotten nasty. So just like Pilate, I'm washing my hands of you guys. And from now on, I'm going to the Gentiles here in town. Verse seven. Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of tedious justice, a worshiper of God.

Now the Bible calls tedious justice, a worshiper of God. He was a Gentile. He was a Roman who had been attracted to the worship of the true God and had started attending synagogue. This is the standard word the Bible uses for a Gentile who had been attracted to the synagogue. Obviously, he had come to faith in Christ as a result of the apostle Paul's preaching. And now he offers his house to Paul to be used as kind of a teaching center there in Corinth, sort of like Corinth Bible College.

You know what I'm saying? Kind of was going to meet in his house and look where his house was located. It was located right next door to the synagogue. Now does God have a sense of humor or what?

Is that unbelievable? And the Bible tells us, verse 11, that the apostle Paul spent 18 months here in Corinth at the house of tedious justice, teaching the word of God. Verse eight. And many of the Corinthians who heard Paul believed and were baptized. The Bible tells us that Paul led scads of people to Christ here in Corinth. And the Bible even tells us about one of the most amazing people he led to Christ, the beginning of verse eight, Crispus, the synagogue ruler, and his entire household believed in the Lord. Now what was the synagogue ruler? Well, the synagogue ruler was the person who ran all the affairs of the synagogue. This was the man who supervised all the Sabbath services. This was the man in the Jewish community there in town, who was supposed to have the deepest knowledge of the Bible, who was supposed to have the greatest zeal for the Jewish faith. He was the big macher in town, if you understand what I'm saying, in the Jewish community. And this guy comes to Christ. And there was only one of them in the Corinthian synagogue. So when he comes to Christ, they have to go out and pick a new synagogue leader because he was the synagogue leader.

This guy gives his life to Jesus along with his whole family. Do you understand how huge this was? I mean, this would be like, if you and I set out to reach every player in the NBA, and the very first player we reach was Michael Jordan. You understand what I'm saying? That's kind of what this is like.

You don't seem to be impressed with that. I'm telling you, that would be a big deal. And that's what this was like.

Well, anyway, we're going to pick up again and see what happens next because it gets worse before it gets better here in this town. But before we ask our most important question for tonight, I do want you to please notice Paul's comment that he made to these Jewish people. Here's what he said. Remember he said, your blood be on your own head.

Do you remember him saying that? This is biblical terminology for judgment coming upon a person for something that person decided to do or decided not to do that brought judgment consequences on them. And the Apostle Paul says to these Jewish people, you know what, you guys decided to ignore the message of Jesus Christ.

By doing so you've put yourselves directly in the path of the judgment of God. Now friends, this is the consistent teaching of the Word of God, that if a person rejects Jesus Christ, they put themselves on a collision course with the judgment of God. Listen to what Jesus said, John chapter three, verse 36. Whoever believes in Jesus Christ has eternal life, but whoever rejects Jesus Christ will not see eternal life, but God's judgment abides, rests on that person. Now if you're here tonight and you've never trusted Christ in a real impersonal way, I want you listen very carefully. Paul's words here remind us that we should not believe the popular notion going around these days that there are lots of ways to get eternal life and that Jesus Christ is just one of them.

That is not true. That is not what the Bible says at all. The Bible is crystal clear that the only way to get eternal life is through a relationship with Jesus Christ. Reject Him and the Bible makes it clear that if you do, you're on a collision course with the judgment of God. Friend, that's what Paul was saying to these Jewish people.

And the same is true today, whether you're Jewish or whether you're Gentile, it would make a bit of difference. Now if you're here tonight and you've never trusted Christ in a real impersonal way, I'm here to tell you that we have Christianity 101. It's a wonderfully safe environment where you can get your questions answered about what that really means and in fact you can go sign up for it in the lobby.

We're going to start in a couple of weeks. But folks, trust me, if you make a decision against Jesus Christ, remember what Paul said here. There's a collision course with the judgment of God that's coming. That's what the Bible teaches.

Please don't believe it teaches anything else and I hope you'll take that to heart. Well, that's as far as we're going in the passage tonight because it's time to ask a question. You know our question, right? Everybody ready? Are you ready? Alright, here we go.

Ready? One, two, three. So what? Right.

Ceylon, so what? You know, I mean that was kind of interesting and you know, I mean but what difference does any of that make to my life? Well, let's talk about that because you know as followers of Jesus Christ, what Paul said to those Jewish people when he said to them, your blood be on your own heads, when he told those unbelieving Jewish people that, there is an incredibly important lesson for you and I in those same words. What he's really saying here is if you guys perish, if you guys miss eternal life now, after all of my attempts to reach you, Paul's saying, then it's your own doing.

It's your own responsibility. But friends, the spiritual truth that's embedded in these words of Paul is, think about it now, what Paul is also saying is that when we first met, when I first met you, the Apostle Paul meeting these Jewish people, before I told you about Jesus Christ, before I warned you about rejecting Jesus Christ, the responsibility for your eternal destiny, I shared a piece of that. In other words, Paul's saying here, part of the responsibility for their eternal destiny was on their shoulders, clearly, but before Paul spoke up and told them the truth, part of their eternal destiny's responsibility was on his shoulders. However, now that he had spoken up, now that he had warned them, now that he had done everything he could think of to reach them, now Paul was absolved of any and all spiritual responsibility that belonged to him, it was 100% on their shoulders now. Now you say, Lon, are you really sure the Bible teaches that? I mean, are you really sure Paul's actually saying that he felt part of the spiritual responsibility for their eternal destiny before he spoke up, before he warned them about what was out there if they rejected Christ?

Absolutely. You know, friends, one of the most haunting passages in the Bible to me is found in the book of Ezekiel chapter 33. Let me read you. It says this, if a watchman on the wall sees danger coming, this is God speaking, and he blows the trumpet to warn the people, and then if anyone hears the trumpet and does nothing and loses his life, that person's blood will be on his own head. In other words, it's that person's own responsibility. However, if the watchman sees danger coming, but does not blow the trumpet to warn the people, and if the people perish, I will hold the watchman accountable for their blood.

Now it gets real personal. Listen to what he said to Ezekiel. He said, Ezekiel, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel, and when I say to unbelievers that they will perish and you don't warn them, I will hold you accountable for their blood. But if you do warn them and they choose not to change, they will still perish, but you will have exonerated yourself.

You'd be free of responsibility, Ezekiel. Now friends, unless I have totally misunderstood this passage in Ezekiel, and I don't think I have, what God is telling us as followers of Jesus Christ here, who know the truth about Jesus, who know the truth about eternity and eternal life, God is telling us that we have a spiritual responsibility to be sharing that truth to people around us everywhere we go. This does not mean, listen carefully, that we rudely and crudely beat people up with the Bible. What it does mean is that when the Holy Spirit opens an opportunity for us to talk to people about eternity, we take that opportunity.

We grab that opportunity, partly because we care about people and we want them to have eternal life, that's true, but partly because we realize that sharing Jesus Christ is a spiritual responsibility that we have from God for which God is going to hold you and me accountable. Now every time I talk about this from the pulpit, I get cards and I get letters and they're all negative. So if you're going to send me a negative card or letter, wait first and see if I cover what you're going to say so you don't have to waste your time. People write me and they say, Lon, how dare you? How dare you try to motivate people to share their faith based on guilt, obligation, duty, and the fear of reprisal from God?

How dare you do that? Well, folks, all I can tell you is I'm trying to be as true to the Bible as I possibly can the way I read it. Listen, think, if we were under no spiritual responsibility to share Jesus, if we had no spiritual liability, if there was no spiritual onus on us, then why in the world would God have said what he said to Ezekiel? You say, well, Lon, that's in the Old Testament. It doesn't count.

Well, actually that's not true. But even if you feel that way, then let me ask you this. Why would the Apostle Paul have said to these unbelieving Jews in Corinth, I am now clear of my responsibility? What responsibility was he talking about, friends, that he was clear of? If not, his responsibility to speak up and tell them about the truth of Jesus Christ and about what's going to happen to them if they reject the truth about Jesus Christ. And you know, later on, he repeats the same line of thinking.

He says in Acts chapter 20, when he's standing in front of the leaders of the Church of Ephesus, he says, Paul does, I have declared to both Jews and Gentiles that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, I declare to you today, Paul says, that I am innocent of the blood of all men. Why?

Because I did not shrink back from proclaiming to you the entire truth of God. You say, Lon, I got to say something. I got to say, this is the most ridiculous line of reasoning I have ever heard in my life. Well, wait a minute. Wait a minute.

You think so? Hey, friends, what about Dan McKinnon and me on that logging road? If my friend Dan McKinnon had seen that truck coming and had never waved his arm to warn me, and that truck would have hit me and killed me, do you think he would have borne any responsibility at all for the fact that I got hit by that truck and killed, that he didn't warn me? You say, well, that's different.

Well, really, how is it different? Friends, as followers of Jesus Christ, we know that a logging truck that the Bible calls hell is headed towards every human being on the face of this earth, every relative we have, every neighbor we have, every friend at school we have, every friend at work we have. And if God gives us the opportunity to warn them, if God opens the door for us to tell them there's a log truck coming at them to get off on the side of the road, and we fail to take that opportunity, how is it that we don't bear some spiritual responsibility if they end up perishing?

How would that be? Let me summarize. If we know Jesus Christ, friends, we're like a watchman on the wall. We know what's out there in eternity for people who don't know Jesus Christ. And we're under solemn obligation, I believe, from God to warn people to blow the trumpet. If we do blow the trumpet and people ignore us, guess what? God says it's not your responsibility anymore.

You warned them, it's all you can do. But if the Holy Spirit opens an opportunity for us to share the message with Christ with somebody, and we don't speak up, and those people perish, I believe there is an accountability that God is going to require from you and from me. And frankly, I think it's an accountability He should require from you and from me. Now, I want you to know that this accountability is something I feel in a very real way every day. You say, well, yeah, Lon, but that's because you're a pastor. Well, no, no, being a pastor has absolutely nothing to do with this.

I feel this responsibility as a follower of Jesus Christ has nothing to do with being a pastor. I feel this accountability with every person I meet professionally. I feel this accountability with every delivery person that shows up to my front door. I feel that accountability with every neighbor on my street, every relative that I have cashiers at the market, waiters at restaurants. I mean, I'm always saying God, you know, I know there's a train coming.

And I know this person may very well be standing on the tracks and they don't even realize it. Lord, if you open up an opportunity to share Christ with them, I'm willing to step through it. And Lord, give me the courage, give me the courage and help me take those opportunities you set in my way. You know, when I first came to the Washington area, true story, I was working for the Good News Mission was a jail and prison ministry with the headquarters in Arlington. And when I was working there one day, I'll never forget it, they sent me over to the bank to make a deposit for the mission. And so I walked over to the bank and about two blocks away, and I had the deposit slip in the checks, you know, and so I go up to the teller, she opens it up and she looks at the deposit slip. And she says, Oh, she says the Good News Mission, she says, so tell me, what's the good news?

Well, how do you like that for an opening? You know what I did? I totally froze. I totally froze. I just stood there and kind of went, hahahaha, I didn't know nothing came out of my mouth. I sheepishly said something silly or stupid took the deposit slip, walked out the door and started walking back to the mission.

And I was about a block away from the bank, when the Holy Spirit said to me, Hey, Lon, I want to tell you something, you know, that lady back there in the bank, if that lady ends up missing eternal life, I'm going to remind you about this day. I'm going to remind you about that question she asked. And you know, it bothered me so much.

I couldn't shake that, that it bothered me so much. You know what I did? You say, Yeah, you went and got a stiff drink. No, no, I didn't go get a stiff drink.

You know what I did? I turned around and walked back to the bank. I got back in that teller's line.

I had no business. I stood in her line. And when I got back up to the front, I said to her, Do you remember that question you asked me? What's the good news? She said, What? I said, Do you remember I was here a few minutes ago, it was a thing for the good news mission. And you said to me, So what's the good news? She said, Yeah. I said, Well, I came back to tell you what the good news is. She said, Okay. And I stood there and told her about Jesus Christ, and about what Jesus Christ wanted to do in her life. I'll tell you, was it hard?

Yeah, it would have been a lot easier to do it the first time. It's a little embarrassing for her to say, Do you have a deposit? I mean, I said, No, I just came back to answer your question. Oh, she said, Well, that's very nice of you.

But you know what? I don't know if that lady ever asked Jesus into her heart. But I know one thing, if she misses heaven, I'm not going to have to stand before God and give an account of that day. Friends, listen, does God ask us to rudely shove Jesus Christ down people's throats? No. Does God ask us to faithfully share Jesus Christ in every situation where he opens an opportunity like he did for me? Absolutely. In fact, God says he's going to hold us accountable for doing that.

And I don't know about you, but that scares me. And the something else it does, it motivates me to do the right thing. It motivates me when God gives me an opportunity to open my mouth.

I remember that lady, I don't want to ever have to go back and repeat it, I'd rather do it the first time. And so this is a motivational thing in my life to say, God, here's an opportunity, you're going to hold me accountable, I'm going to take this opportunity, help me. And you say, Well, Lon, if this is really true, then why don't more followers of Christ share their faith?

I've got three quick reasons. And then we're done. Number one, because a lot of followers of Christ are not convinced that it's necessary to share their faith. What I mean by that is they believe there's other ways for people to get eternal life. And so why should I share my faith if there's other ways for people to get to heaven, folks, nothing could be farther from the truth.

The Bible doesn't know anything about any other way for somebody to get eternal life other than Jesus Christ. And if you have any doubts, I've got something that can help you with reason. Number one, I've got two tapes or you can get the CD to listen to. One is part 44 of this series to people really need Jesus. And the other one is part 30 is being a worshiper of God. Good enough. You can go right out in the bookstore, and I'll take you to the Bible and talk to you about is there another way you can get eternal life?

The answer is no. A second reason why people don't often share their faith is number two, because they don't feel they know how to share their faith. Well, I got good news for you too. It's called Christianity 301. You can walk right out in the lobby and sign up for it. It's all about training you how in a right, sensitive, and appropriate way to share your faith, and in six weeks we'll train you how to do it.

Go out there and sign up. Because you don't know how is no excuse for not sharing your faith when there's training available. The third and final reason why people don't often share their faith is simply because they're ashamed. Because they're ashamed to share their faith.

Now on this one, I can't fix this one for you. This is between you and the Lord himself. I can remind you what Jesus said. Luke chapter 9 verse 26. He said, if anyone is ashamed of me, I will be ashamed of him when I come in my glory. Now I'm not 100% sure exactly what that means, but whatever it means, I don't want to be on the receiving end of it.

Let me just say that. I don't want to be on the receiving end of that verse. And friends, I've got a tape that'll help you. It's from our series on Romans. It's called I Am Ready to Preach the Gospel from Romans chapter 1 that'll help you with some of these thoughts.

Go out to the bookstore and get it. One way or the other, I want to leave you with the Lord's words as we close tonight. These are his words for you and for me. He says, and I quote, I have made you, insert your name, Lon Solomon. I've made you, Lon, a watchman for people. When I say to unbelievers that they will perish and you don't warn them, I will hold you, Lon, accountable for their blood, at least in part. But if you do warn them and they choose not to change, they will still perish, but you will have exonerated yourself. Friends, these are serious words. And they should change the way we live. They should change the way we live.

And I hope they will for you. Let's pray together. Let's take a moment with our heads bowed and our eyes closed, shall we? That if you need to do business with God, this would be a good moment to do it. If you need to tell God that you're going to be more willing to share your faith, if one of these three reasons is something you need to remedy, then maybe you need to tell God you're going to take steps to do that with his help.

But if you need to talk to God about this subject, if you need to maybe begin a new pattern in your life, why don't you take a moment and you talk to him right now. Lord Jesus, let's all be honest with you here tonight. There's not a one of us sitting here as a follower of Christ who hasn't had an opportunity at some point handed to us to share our faith where we didn't. In most cases, Lord, let's be honest, it's because we were just a little ashamed, a little embarrassed. Maybe we felt a little uncomfortable, didn't know quite how. Lord, every one of us here has been guilty of that. Lord, we ask you to forgive us for that. You've never been ashamed of us, and you've got reason to be ashamed of us.

We have no reason to be ashamed of you. Lord Jesus, encourage us tonight by reminding us of the accountability that is ours for the people that we pass every day. Lord, you're not asking us to ram and jam ourselves into their lives, but you are asking us when you open an opportunity by your Spirit, to be willing to open our mouths and warn people, talk to people, love people. God, make us very sensitive to this accountability I pray, and may it motivate us to do the right thing. Change our lives because we were here tonight. Make us missionaries every day, I pray. And I ask this in Jesus' name, Amen.