Acts 18, 19 (selected passages)
Lessons in Discipleship (part 1)
February 13, 2022

• Tracking Paul ministry
• Athens to Corinth
• Constable said, “It was as though Paul had left Boston and had landed in Las Vegas.”
• Corinth was 20x larger than Athens. ¹
• The city boasted two ports (one on the west coast and one on the east coast).
  • “Stevedores” (Constable) (phonic: steve-a-doors) hauled smaller ships and larger ships’ cargo overland 3 1/2 miles on wooden rollers.
  • Corinth was a sailor city with sailor vises.
• But as Witherington said, “The city was in many regards the best place possible in Greece for making contacts with all sorts of people … .” ²
• In Corinth, Paul had some of his greatest triumphs.
• We are going to look at Luke’s narrative to see how he accomplished it.
• As I looked at this passage this week I initially had another idea for this sermon…
• …but it became soon obvious that this one had some key discipleship principles that are in it.
  I knew it had some, but I it’s load through these chapters 18-19
• Hence the title of the sermon: Lessons in Discipleship

Define discipleship—A term that needs context

• Christians
• the 12 Disciples
• a committed follower of Jesus
• an exclusive follower of Jesus
• Context for this sermon
• Discipleship in a desire to see the lost saved and the Christian grow in love.
• Would you like to be used of God in a powerful way to assist others to become more Christ-like, while you too become more like Him?
• In this passages are ten discipleship principles to help us to do just that.

PRAY

1 After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them, 3 and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade. 4 And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks. 5 When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus.

Principle # 1: Disciples Work

Two types of work 1) Tentmaking

• Paul and Aquila and his wife Priscilla
• Paul was a tentmaker and at this time in his ministry he took time to be bi-vocational.
  • SEE, HE was a bi-vocational missionary
  • “Therefore all pastors and missionaries should be.”
  • Look at verse 5 again quick
    • “Occupied with the word”
    • He didn’t prohibit ministers from making their living from the gospel, see 1 Corinthians 9:11-18
• Paul was pragmatist regarding his daily needs—whatever worked!
  • He provided for his own needs.
    • He boasted during that time that he was able to preach the gospel for free.
  • He worked full-time in the ministry
  • He received sustenance from the Church at large at times.
  • Mixed bag throughout his ministry.
  • He faced all kinds of circumstances.
• We see these same circumstances in the church today.
  • Volunteer leaders or lay leaders
  • Bi-vocational leaders
  • Full-time leaders
  • Church still sends out missionary leaders (e.g., church plant pastors)
• The Church needs all of its leaders.
• The Church needs the next generation leaders.
• So to be clear I’m not talking about tentmaking.

2) WORK = "Occupied with the word."

• He was a worker of Jesus preaching and teaching the Bible.
  • Taught by the best teachers, but took time to study the word at a high level himself. (7 years)
• Why was Paul such a hard worker?
  • White with harvest.
    • Fields of lost people destined for hell.
    • Fields of the saved destined for carnality.

ILLUSTRATION:

• Alexander MacLaren
• My man Alex Mac
• Alexander Maclaren labored in England at the same time as several other prominent preachers, such as [Charles H.] Spurgeon, Joseph Parker, and F. B. Meyer. Meyer himself, in comparing Maclaren to his many notable contemporaries, said, “As an expository preacher none of them equaled Maclaren of Manchester, and no other sermons were so widely read the world around.
• 6800 sermons
• Large Exposition of the Scriptures
• “WORK” : Work boots

APPLICATION:

• US—Alexander Maclaren—MAYBE NOT
• If you and I are going to be a discipler, we must be willing to put in the work to know the Bible well.
• Seminary?
  • Dave Hodges
  • Tuesday Night Bible Study, in The Woodlands

THE WORD OF GOD—Priority #2 with worship of God #1?

• Why is this not happening?
• The worship and the word of God gets kicked down the priority list daily in Christians’ lives and homes.
• We have to care about the Bible a lot to learn a lot.

Soon going to teach a series on how to study the Bible well.

TRANSITION:

• Paul was occupied by the word in the fields of God, but there was a time that he left a dry field.

Principle #2: There is a time to walk away from people and focus on others who are ready to hear.

6 And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

• So thoroughly had Paul completed the work of God that he could walk away from people with a clear conscience. (MacLaren)
  • Leviticus 19:17, “Do not hate a fellow Israelite in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in their guilt.” (NIV)
• People are responsible for themselves to the greatest degree.
  • They have the witness of creation.
  • Oftentimes they have rejected the gospel on the lips of the saints numerous times!
  • The love their sin and reject the light.
• Let’s work among them, but we cannot spend all out energies on people who are not ready to listen!
  • Some shall not be saved.
  • Walk away!
  • We shared the gospel enough here!

This teaching of walking away is also seen in the Church:

• Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 5:5, You [the church at Corinth] are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
  • The Prodigal Son—Father not running after the son!
• 1 Corinthians 5:11, But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one.
  • We tried to disciple you—but enough!
    • Dogs return to their vomit.
    • Go eat. But eat without me!

ILLUSTRATION:
Rusty—Co-dependent

APPLICATION:

• When do we give up?
• Be led by the Spirit of God

• It is a solemn thing to say ‘I am clean.’ We need to have been very diligent, very loving, very prayerful to God, and very persuasive in pleading with men, before we dare to roll all the blame of their condemnation on themselves. (MacLaren)

• But there is a time to leave a field.

TRANSITION:
We see that Paul gave up on an audience, look how close the next productive field of fruit was … v. 7.

7 And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue. 8 Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized.

Principle #3: Disciples produce fruit

• Point A: Disciplers produce fruit
  • Founder of the Navigators—Dawson Trotman said to an audience, “Are you producing? If not, why not? Is it because of a lack of communion with Christ your Lord? Remember, ‘Nothing under heaven except sin, immaturity and lack of communion will put you in a position where you cannot reproduce.’”
• Point B: Often times it the people close by or the people we are overlooking that are ready!
  • Woman at the well
  • Saul vs. David

ILLUSTRATION:

• C. instead of C.

APPLICATION:

• People are ready for the gospel!
• Christians are ready to grow somewhere!
• Targeting a mission area.

Almost certainly as we grow in the Lord, He will ask us to do something that we may be afraid of. Paul experienced it.

Now that we have seen disciples produce fruit. We will look at what may happen if we stay on the road of discipleship as disciples:

Principle #4: There will be times where we will be afraid.

9 And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, 10 for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.”

• Paul had a reason to fear.
• At this point he may have been tired of running for his life!
  • Wickedness around.
  • No beating this time.
  • Ministry - the ebb and flow of it all.
• God to Paul: do not fear.
• Fear of being ineffective.
• Fear of being canceled.
• Fear of running out of money.
• Fear of, Did I miss God?
• Fear of, What will God ask of me next?
• Fear of …
• Fear of …

If you are never afraid you may not ever live outside of what you are comfortable with.

• You may miss a faith fork.
• There may be times of faith forks.

ILLUSTRATION:
Elijah after Mount Carmel
Moses fear going alone

APPLICATION:

• We should all be hoping to be disciples of The Master.
• And God is working on the under “discipler” as much as the “disciplee.”

Principle #5: Discipleship takes time.

11 And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

• A foundation of discipleship is a sacrifice of time.
  • Discipleship is labor intensive mixed with a lot of patience.
• For Paul, teaching the word of God 1 1/2 years
  - Jesus’ Disciples gave up 2+ years to do OJT w/ Jesus.
  - They had to give up time!
  - To follow God, you will have to give up time.
• Often discipleship is not what people what to do at the time.
  • Hard to do in America due to out culture.
  • ILL: Bible study and Good Shepherd Mission.
    • It would have cost no more time.
    • But to more away from the coffee at church…that was asking too much.
• Time is a fixed commodity.
  • My experience: time is the last thing a Christian will give up!
  • We as Christians will give up even our money—to a comfortable point—before our time.

ILLUSTRATION

• Chap Clark, Hurt: Inside the World of Today’s Teenagers
  • 6 months mentoring a youth, does more damage than good
• Paul
  • Corinth = 1 1/2
  • Ephesus = 2 years look briefly at 19: 10
• Jesus 2 years
• I have found that that is what it takes: 2 years
• Bonding and deepness in discipleship is a work of God!
  • It takes time!

APPLICATION:

• Organization fail at it!
  • D-Now
  • Promise Keepers
• Individual Christians succeed at it.
  • Life on life
• Commit to 2 years
  • There cannot be discipleship without time.
  • Make no mistake: We have time for what we make time for.

Now that we see that discipleship takes much time, let’s see what is needed with more time:

Bibliography and Notes

¹ Longenecker, p. 480 in Thomas Constable’s "Notes on Acts,” 2021 ed., https://planobiblechapel.org/tcon/notes/pdf/acts.pdf.

² Witherington, p. 538 in Thomas Constable’s "Notes on Acts,” 2021 ed., https://planobiblechapel.org/tcon/notes/pdf/acts.pdf.

Abarim Publications. “σκελλω.” Aug. 24, 2021 version, https://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Bethlehem.html.

All About God. “Share Jesus Without Fear.” Accessed Feb. 9, 2022, https://www.allaboutgod.com/share-jesus-without-fear-2.htm.

Barclay, William. William Barclay’s Daily Study Bible [NT]. “Acts 18 & 19,” https://bibleportal.com/commentary/chapter/william-barclay/acts/18 and https://bibleportal.com/commentary/chapter/william-barclay/acts/19.

Constable, Thomas. "Notes on Acts.” 2021 ed., https://planobiblechapel.org/tcon/notes/pdf/acts.pdf.

Call 2 All. Home Page. Call2all.org, accessed Feb. 9, 2022, https://www.call2all.org/finish-lines/proclamation-everyone/.

MacLaren, Alexander. Expositions of Holy Scripture: The Acts. 1826-1910. From Bible Portal, https://bibleportal.com/commentary/chapter/alexander-maclaren-s-expositions-of-holy-scripture/acts/18 and https://bibleportal.com/commentary/chapter/alexander-maclaren-s-expositions-of-holy-scripture/acts/19.