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Today’s passage is a continuation of Paul’s message at Miletus. Last week we looked at the first part of Paul’s message and saw what kind of a person is a witness to the Gospel.  Today let’s look at how a leader in the church should be. In verse 28 it says, “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God.”  In other words, Paul is telling the Ephesian church elders and pastors, in other words the leaders of the church, to and how they should pastor the church.

Pastoring is “a noble task”. (I Tim. 3:1)  Therefore, today let’s look at 3 aspects of a person who is a good shepherd, or a good pastor.

I.            Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock (vs. 28-30)

             Paul first says to the Ephesian leaders who were to pastor the flock, “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock.” (28) “Watch over” means “to concentrate on being careful”  In other words, it means to be extremely careful about yourself and your flock.  The reason is given in verses 29 and 30.  It is because Paul knew that after he left them, savage wolves will come and destroy the flock.  Even within the flock “men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.” (30)  There was an evil force working to draw away believers from the faith from the beginning of the church. This evil force destroys the flock. Therefore, in order to counteract this force, and so that the Church can stand as a church, we must watch over ourselves and the flock.

              First of all Paul says, “Keep watch over yourselves.” (28) In other words, the concerns of helping others and of management tend to draw our attention and we don’t realize that we ourselves are lacking and in danger.  We need to build up ourselves.  Of course the leader’s skills and identity are important, but more important is being fed by the Word of God.  Therefore, it is the Word of God that builds us up. Through the help of the Holy Spirit we must grow spiritually. The church leaders before feeding the people need to feed themselves.

              Next, they need to keep watch over “all the flock”. This means to pastor the church.  A shepherd’s responsibility is so the sheep can eat grass and drink water and grow, to lead them to places where there is grass and water.  They also must protect them from wolves and wild animals so they don’t get eaten up.  They need to be on the watch that nothing disrupts the flock. In other words, the leader needs to love deeply those whom the Lord has given him.

II.          Committing to God and to the word of his grace   (vs.31-32)

              The second thing a good shepherd needs to do is commit his flock to God and to the word of grace. With hungry wolves coming from the outside and within the flock “men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them”, we must be constantly on watch. Then we need to commit the flock “to God and to the Word of his grace.” (32)    

              In verse 32 Paul says, “Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.”  Here is Paul’s strongest assurance and strongest message.  This is a stronger assurance than he has had up until now as he gave encouraging words, commands and warnings.  It is stronger than anything he has said about his lifestyle.  That’s because in the end, he had to commit everything to God and to the word of his grace.  That is because it is by the Word of God that Christians grow.  It is not by human knowledge or strength that the church is built up. It is only by God and the word of his grace that the church is built up and we can be given an inheritance in heaven.

              Before in the reigns of Judah’s kings, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, Judah’s enemies came to destroy Jerusalem.  They were in a pinch because the whole city of Jerusalem was surrounded by its enemies.  The leaders of Jerusalem got together and put their heads together trying to think of what they should do.  They thought of all sorts of strategies. They thought of ways to try to develop peaceful relationships with their enemies.  They thought of signing treaties with other nations so other nations would protect her. They had lots of ideas.   Isaiah warned the Israelites not to depend upon their own thinking or wisdom, but to depend upon God. He suggested that the reason that they were in such a pinch was because they had left the real God.  The only solution was for them not to rely on human knowledge, but on the knowledge of God. He said that they needed to return to God.  Then God would forgive them.  They needed to rely on God.  However, the Jerusalem leaders didn’t listen to Isaiah’s warning.  They relied on their own thinking. As a result Jerusalem was destroyed.  That was because they didn’t rely on God.

              This can also be said of the church.  When the church becomes separated from the Word of God and depends on human thinking, it experiences destruction like Jerusalem.  However, when the church is committed to God and the word of grace, it is never destroyed.  Therefore, it is necessary to understand what the Word of God is saying, and then follow it.

              Paul believed that God and the word of grace would build up the church and give the believers an inheritance in heaven so he was able to commit the church to the Word of God.  This was not just the Ephesus church, but all churches in all generations.  It is God who builds up the church.  We need to remember that it is only by God, and the Word through the work of the Holy Spirit that the church grows.  Therefore, we need to be a flock that follows the Word of God.

III.         It is more blessed to give than to receive (vs. 33-35)

              Thirdly a good shepherd practices the words of Jesus “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (35) The last thing that Paul talked about was how they could help the weak.  That was to have the heart of Jesus who said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (35)  Jesus lived such a life.

Luke 6:38

John 12:24,25

Jesus gave up himself and died on the cross that we might live.  Jesus’ life was a life of giving.

John 10:11

Jesus gave his life for us.  Jesus is the good shepherd.  “A hired hand doesn’t give his life for his sheep” because he doesn’t own the sheep. “So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away.  Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it.” However, Jesus is the good shepherd. He gives his life for the sheep.  Then we who follow the good shepherd need to live by “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (35)

              In this world a lot of people think the opposite that it is more blessed to receive that to give.  We are self centered so we think we are really happy when we receive things, but that is not real happiness.  In fact the more we try to keep possessions for ourselves, the more we have feelings of meaninglessness.  Money is not bad.  What is bad is being controlled by money.  When we try to save money, we tend to rely on the money, and become a slave to the money. 

II Cor. 8:7

Giving is the grace of God.  Offerings are the grace of God.

II Cor. 8:19

Offerings “show our eagerness to help” (19) If our offerings do not show this eagerness, then there is little meaning in it.  Not only that, but it is difficult for us to give joyfully.  If we really understood that offerings show the unity and concrete fellowship of the church, we will be changed into giving people.  Therefore, Paul gladly gave. He thought he had to help the weak.  Also by giving, he was able to remember the words of Jesus who said, ‘　“It is more blessed to give than to receive.”  Paul while remembering these words, was able to live a life of giving.

              When we look at Paul we can see that he never really experienced a slump.  Instead, he said, “rejoice”.  Even when he was in prison, he said “Rejoice”.  He had a secret for overcoming all things.  That secret was Jesus Christ.  Like Jesus, he was able to give his life. If we live our life by “It is more blessed to give than to receive,” then we will be able to overcome too. 

              “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock” (28) giving freely, expecting no reward, being faithful and committing everything to God and the word of grace. This is what is expected of those who are overseers of the church that God “bought with his own blood.” (28) It is also the way of blessing for all Christians.

              In Rev. 2:1-5 we can see how the Ephesus church was like in the end of the first century.  According to verse 2 the Ephesus church followed the teachings of Paul and they didn’t “tolerate wicked men” and were careful to test “those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false.”  In other words, they followed the Word of God and they were victorious in battle.  However, God had a complaint against them.  They had forsaken their first love. 

              May our church have a hot burning love based on the Word of God.  By the love and tears of a mother may we build up the church until the coming of the kingdom of God. May each of us fulfill faithfully the task that we have been given. May we like Jesus and Paul as the result of being loved first by God joyfully give of ourselves. May we be shepherds living in this love.  This is the good shepherd that Paul and Jesus envisioned.  

              Paul has finished his third mission trip and is heading for Jerusalem.  The focal point of the third mission trip was Paul’s ministry in Ephesus.  After spending 3 years ministering in Ephesus, Paul went though Macedonia where he spent 3 months and then headed for Jerusalem.  On the way in Troas there was incident of Eutychus falling out the window and dieing, but as a result of God raising him up, many people were encouraged.  From there Paul sailed to Assos and from there to Mitylene, then on to Samos. The next day they arrived at Miletus.  “From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church” (17) and gave his farewell message to them.  This was because “Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in the province of Asia, for he was in a hurry to reach Jerusalem, if possible, by the day of Pentecost.” (16)

              In today’s passage Paul’s farewell message is recorded.  In the Bible there are several messages of Paul to the Jews or to the Gentiles that are recorded, but there are only a few messages like this to Christians.  That means that this message is very important, and that its contents are very moving. It continues to verse 35 so it is a little long so we will look at it for 2 weeks. Paul’s message is made up into 3 parts.  In verses 18 to 21 Paul reminisces about his ministry up till now.  In verses 22 to 27 he shares his heart and what he is thinking about now. Finally in verses 28 to 35 he advises what they should do from now on. 

              Today let’s look at the first 2 sections. From this part of Paul’s farewell message let’s consider 3 aspects of the preparing our hearts to be a witness to the Gospel.

I.                A serving servant (vs. 18-21)

First of all Paul tells us to be a servant that serves.  He reminisces how he has lived up until now.  In other words he tells us about his basic lifestyle, the way he lived his life.  His life was a life of “serving the Lord”.  It was being a slave of Jesus Christ, a servant, serving the Gospel, and serving the church.  This is concretely written here.

First of all Paul “served the Lord with great humility and with tears” (18)

although he “was severely tested by the plots of the Jews.” (18)  “with great humility” (18) means that he strove not to stand out in front, but to only show Jesus Christ not himself.　“with tears” is used in the same way in verse 31.  It means wearing the other person’s shoes, being absorbed in working for the other person’s salvation and benefit In other words, having humility, love, and patience and earnestly serving the Lord.

              The way he did this was he did not hesitate to preach anything that would be helpful to them and taught them publicly and from house to house to “turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.”(21) “Publicly” (20) refers to in the Jewish synagogue, and at the lecture hall of Tyrannus and at all other public places.  On the other hand, “from house to house” (20) refers to visiting homes, meetings held in homes, etc.  “to you” actually means “to each individual person、in other words, personal evangelism. 

              In other words, Paul, that others might be saved always forgot about himself, using his mouth and also his body and in tears, he declared everywhere and to every one  “turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.” (21) He had that type of lifestyle.  His whole life was focused on God. He thought only about God and was controlled by him. If you pulled him away from God, the person Paul would be empty.  His heart was controlled by God.  In verse 24 he said, “I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me-the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.” At the present time, Paul is going to go to Jerusalem, but he doesn’t know what will occur.  All he knows is that he will face “prison and hardships” (23) However, even if that means dying he considers his life worth nothing. He is concentrating on earnestly serving the Lord, and intently continues walking on that road.  Paul is saying this not because he wants their sympathy, but because he wants them to understand him.  He is also saying this to show what a person who serves the Gospel’s lifestyle is like.  Paul often says to imitate him.  The central thing that should be imitated is Paul’s lifestyle of serving the Lord.  This morning we want to receive his earnestness and intentness to serve the Lord .                 .

II.              Living by the priority of your calling (vs.22-25)              

Next Paul is preaching about the present circumstances that he is in and what he anticipates will happen to him. Here the number one reason why Paul who served the Lord, could continue to do so is given.  That is because he was “compelled by the Spirit” (22) to do so. When Paul goes to Jerusalem, he doesn’t know what will occur.  He does know however that he will face “prison and hardships” (23) Even so, he won’t run away because he is “compelled by the Spirit” (22) to “finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given (him)- the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.” (24)

Paul made his calling his number 1 priority.  He put the Lord’s thoughts above himself.  He wasn’t caught up in his own life or death. In reality, when Paul went to Jerusalem, he was arrested, put in chains and put in prison.  However it isn’t the chains that are holding him.  It is the Holy Spirit.   He is under the power of Jesus Christ so for Christ he becomes a prisoner and goes to Jerusalem. It doesn’t matter what happens there because Jesus will lead him down the road that he is supposed to run.  It is Paul’s priority to continue on that road.  He has to continue on that road because he is under the power of Jesus, he is “compelled by the Spirit” (22) He has to “finish the race and complete the task.” (24)  This is what a person who is controlled by Jesus, a servant is like.  Paul wanted to show this to the Ephesian church’s elders.

Are you under the power of Jesus Christ?  Or are you controlled by other things?  If you are controlled by your work, your school, or your family or your future, or any other thing than Jesus Christ or if you are not compelled by the Spirit, then all is meaningless. What you are doing is just self expression. No matter what we are doing, we need through our environment and ministry make “the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace” (24) our number 1 priority in our life.

II Cor. 5:14

“For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that” Jesus died for us　(II Cor. 5:14) so our hearts are “compelled by the Spirit.” (22)  Therefore, let’s make Christ’s desires the first priority in our lives.  That is what Christ’s servants are like.

III.            Fulfill the job that we are given (vs. 26,27)

The third aspect of a servant of Christ is that they fulfill the job that they are given.  Here Paul says “I am innocent of the blood of all men.” (26)

Ezekiel 3:16-21

These are words of the Lord to Ezekiel.  Here God is saying that he had made Ezekiel a watchman over the house of Israel.  A watchman is a person who when he hears the Word of God, he then tells the people the Words in the Lord’s place.  He doesn’t know if the people will accept the warning or not. Even if the people did not accept the warning, the watchman did not have to take on the responsibility with his life.  The only thing the watchman had to do was to speak the words of his Lord.  That was the watchman’s responsibility

Probably that is why Paul is saying here that he has no responsibility for the judgment that will come upon all mankind. Paul will only be judged on whether he spoke the Words of the Lord or not.  If he fulfilled the job of spreading the gospel, then he will not need to take responsibility for those who did not believe with his life.  Even if the people do not believe, it is the responsibility of the hearers, not Paul.  The job that we are responsible for, is sharing the Good News of the grace of God. Paul was able to give his life to sharing the Gospel because he realized that he had responsibility to proclaim the Gospel and the upcoming judgment.  Christians mustn’t think that it is enough just to be able to go to heaven.  We must fulfill the job that we are called to do.  We need to intently share the Gospel of God to our family, relatives, and friends so that we can say to them like Paul did that we are not responsible for the judgment that is coming upon them “For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.” (27) 

Jesus told us to look at the fields because they are ripe and ready for harvest. (John 4:35)  Sometimes we think that the fields aren’t ripe when they really are.  We think that a person won’t be saved now if ever.  However, in reality they are ready to hear the Gospel.

   Rev. Yasuro Enomoto was passing out tracts in a hospital.  There was one person that he thought that he wouldn’t give a tract to.  That person was a group leader in the Yakuza.  He figured that it was of no meaning to give a tract to such a person.  When he tried to sneak past the person, the person yelled, “Hey! Give one to me too!”  so he gave the person one.  Right after that one of the people under the Yakuza group leader came to Rev. Enomoto and said that he had been sent to bring the pastor to Yakuza group leader. In reality in the hospital the person closest to God was the Yakuza group leader.

Sometimes we think, “this person will never become a Christian” so we don’t share the Gospel with him. However, sometimes a person that we never dreamed would accept the Lord does sooner than others. We shouldn’t be selective but boldly plant seeds.  If we do that, and are intently planting seeds, all at once we’ll be harvesting. When we plant seeds we have to wait before they are harvested.  However, now is the age of grace so God prepares the seeds and the harvest.  “Now is the time of salvation.”  We need to put the emphasis on the “now”.  It is important to be like Paul and always be sharing about Christ to everyone. Then planting and harvesting will occur at the same time.  We need to preach the Gospel.  God will work in their hearts.  However, whether they believe or not is up to the person.  We don’t need to think that they have to believe. We just need to share the Gospel.   If the person believes, out of his heart will flow the river of living life.  However, until that time the person may not be thankful for us sharing the Gospel, but even so we need to continue preaching the Word of God.

Look at the ripe fields that are ready for harvest.  Being encouraged by the Word of God let’s keep our eyes on the fields and do the work of the Lord.  Like Paul, let’s be controlled by Christ. Let’s give up ourselves, and with tears always share the Gospel of grace everywhere, and to everyone, that by our lips and actions others might be saved,.  No matter what the result is, let’s fulfill the job that we have been given.

              Today’s passage tells us what happened between the time that the 3^rd mission trip was over and until Paul reached Jerusalem.  In verse 1 it says, “When the uproar had ended“.  This refers to the episode that we looked at last week, the disruption that occurred at Ephesus over the goddess, Artemis.  When the disruption calmed down, Paul called together the disciples and encouraged them, and announced that he was leaving.  Then he left for Macedonia. His concern was for the Corinthian church.  The Corinthian church had many problems.  In order to solve the problems he had sent many letters, but even so that problems never seemed to be solved.  Therefore, Paul got the idea of going himself to Corinth and after that going on to Jerusalem. Therefore he went from Ephesus to Macedonia, and from there he went to Greek where he spent 3 months.  This Greece refers to the province of Achaia. This is probably a reference to Corinth, the capital of Achaia After spending 3 months there, he planned to sail on a boat for Syria (Jerusalem).  “The Jews made a plot against him.” (3) The Jews were determined to take Paul’s life.  The port at Cenchrea would have provided a convenient place for Paul’s enemies to detect him as he entered a ship to embark for Syria.  Therefore, they returned again through Macedonia.  From there they went to Troas and then from Assos they got on a boat and returned to Jerusalem.  During this time about a year passed, but Luke writes almost nothing new about the work. What he writes about is Christian encouragement and comfort. Verse 1 says “When the uproar had ended, Paul sent for the disciples and, after encouraging them…”                                                and verse 2 says, “He traveled through that area, speaking many words of encouragement to the people…“  In addition, from verse 7 and on, the episode at Troas of the young man, Eutychus following asleep is recorded. Eutychus who fell asleep during worship and fell from the 3^rd floor window died, but he rose again.  Those who witnessed this were comforted.  Today let’s look at 3 aspects of Christian encouragement and comfort.

I.            Encouragement by the Word of God   (vs. 1, 2)

              First of all, the foundation of Christian encouragement is the Word of God.  3 years of evangelism in Ephesus ended with the great uproar over the goddess of Artemis.  “When the uproar had ended, Paul sent for the disciples” (1) whom Paul had ministered to day and night with tears for 3 years. He said his good-byes to them and planned to set out for Macedonia.  He didn’t just say good-bye, but his purpose was to encourage. It is not written here what he said, but probably it was close to what he said on his first evangelistic trip to those who had become Christians in 14:２２.

              The encouragement and comfort that the church gives isn’t just mere words of encouragement, but words of the kingdom of God.  They are words that hold on to hope and give patience and endurance.  Paul encouraged them with such words, and not only that but he left Ephesus and visited the Macedonian towns that he had visited on his second mission trip, encouraging and advising them. In verse 2 it says, “He traveled through that area, speaking many words of encouragement to the people.” These are the words of the Gospel, the Word of God.  The church is encouraged and given strength through the Word of God. Of course, at times we are encouraged by other people’s words.  However, “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.  And this is the word that was preached to you.”  (I Peter 1:24, 25)

              There are many things that come our way in life and at times we wonder if we are going to be able to continue standing, but it is the Words of the Gospel that keep us standing. 

              To those who are depressed we can say, “Read Hebrews 13:5, 6.”  It says, “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’”             

To those who are worried about many things, we can say, “Read I Peter 5:7.” It says, “Cast all your anxiety on him (Jesus) because he cares for you.”

              To those who are having temptations, we can say, “Read I Cor. 10:13.” It says, “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man.  And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.  But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”

              To those who are tired, we can say, “Read Matt. 11:28, 29.” It says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

              We need to remember that we find real encouragement and comfort through the Words of the Gospel.

II.          It’s important to find ways to protect our brothers and sisters in Christ (vs. 3-6)

              Paul, who came to Greece, spent 3 months there and then planned to leave by ship to Syria.  However, because of a plot on his live, he decided to return by way of Macedonia. The 7 people who were traveling with him are listed in verse 4.  There were “Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy also, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia.”  Then in verse 5, Luke uses, “we”.  The “we” is the “we” of Acts 16:17 which disappeared in the middle of the evangelism at Philippi. In other words, Luke remained in Philippi encouraging the brothers there.  Now Luke is with Paul again so the pronoun becomes “we”.  God did not make the road that Paul walked a lonely one, He always provided someone to walk with him.  What a great encouragement that must have been to Paul!  When the Gospel is preached there are times that there are struggles and we feel lonely, but God provides such companions to walk alongside us. 

              Let’s look at what type of people these people were.  The first to be mentioned is Sopater who is introduced as being from Berea.  Berea was one of the towns that Paul went to on his second mission trip.  Aristarchus and Secundus are introduced as being from Thessalonica.  Thessalonica was also a town that Paul visited on his second mission trip.  Gaius and Timothy were from Derbe.  Derbe was one of the towns that Paul visited on his first mission trip.  Tychicus and Trophimus were from the province of Asia which had Ephesus as its capital. Now Luke came from the church of Philippi and meets up with Paul.  The people that are traveling with him are the representatives of the different churches that Paul had visited on him mission trips.

              These men were concerned about Paul and wanted to support him on the trip. However, this was not the main reason that they went with Paul.  Paul was going to Jerusalem to bring the offering from the churches to the Jerusalem church.  They didn’t want to just hand the offering to the Jerusalem church, they wanted to share in fellowship with them.

              However, they were going not to just enjoy the warm fellowship, but as a way to protect the weak Christians.  As you probably remember, when Paul was in Corinth he made tents to support himself while he was evangelizing there.  That was because there were rumors that Paul was using the offerings for himself.  Because of the scandal, Paul wanted his life to be free from anything that might be questionable so he worked to support himself while he was evangelizing.  Now he was going to cross the sea to go to Jerusalem so he didn’t want to take any chances of having a scandal start again so he took the men with him. A scandal could be a stumbling block for weak Christians so Paul wanted to avoid it.  The best way to avoid a scandal was for Paul to have nothing to do with the money.  He had the representatives of the various churches carry it. 

              II Cor. 8:20-21

              This was the feeling that Paul had.  He wanted “to avoid and criticism of the way (II Cor. 8:20)he brought the offering to Jerusalem. He also took great “pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of men.” (II Cor. 8:21) 

Romans 15:1-3

              This is how Jesus was.  We are to follow the example of Christ.  Then we will be able to be an encouragement to others.

III.         A sympathetic and thoughtful heart  (vs. 7-12)

              At the end of the 7 day stay in Troas, “On the first day of the week we came together to break bread.” (7) “Break bread” means to have communion. The church was meeting on Sunday the day before Paul was planning to leave.  “Because he intended to leave the next day, (Paul) kept on talking until midnight.”  A young man named Eutychus was seated in a window in the upstairs room of the third floor. Paul’s message was so long that Eutychus fell asleep. “He fell to the ground from the third story and was picked up dead.” (9)  Paul went and laid on top of the man and put his arms around him and said, ”Don’t be alarmed.””He’s alive.” (10)  This does not mean that Eutychus hadn’t died. Luke, a doctor, had already recorded that he was dead in verse 9.  He was dead.  What Paul meant was that he was resurrected. Then the people returned to the room and had communion and talked until daybreak and then Paul left.

Luke did not put this passage here to teach us not to sleep in church.  Some people say he wrote this passage to teach us that God has the power to resurrect us.  Of course, this passage shows this, but the resurrection is not given a lot of emphasis.  It just happened and everyone continued to have communion and listen to the sermon.  The real reason is written in verse 12.  They “were greatly comforted.”

Paul’s greatness isn’t stressed.  Eutychus’ happiness wasn’t stressed.  The church members who were all saddened by Eutychus’ death were comforted was the focal point.  At first glance that may seem like the natural response, but not necessarily.

A class was on a school trip.  One of the students got extremely sick and as a result all of the students had to come home early.  The other students and parents visited the sick child and when they saw the student getting better said, “I’m so glad!”  However, the teacher did not visit the student or say that he was glad that the child was better.  Instead, he told the parents to apologize to the president of the P.T.A. because all the students had to come home early because their child had gotten sick.  The teacher wasn’t able to rejoice that the child had gotten better.

What would happen if a child fell out of the window and got hurt in the middle of the worship service at this church?  If we called an ambulance and heard that the child was going to live, would we be saying, “I’m so glad!” or even if our mouth is saying that would we be thinking, “What was that child doing in that window!”  “The parents should have been watching him more.”  “The parents weren’t bringing him up right.” “The parents should be more strict with him.”  “The child disrupted the church worship.”  “That child was a terrible witness for the church.” etc.

When you think about the fact that “The people took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted” (12) was an amazing thing.  This shows that the whole church loved even the careless young man.  In their hearts Jesus was not only the source of all life, but also the shepherd with 100 sheep.  When 1 sheep was lost he left the other 99 sheep and went looking for the lost sheep until he found him.  When he found the sheep, he was overwhelmed with joy and called all his friends and neighbors and asked them to rejoice with him.  They had the same heart of love as their shepherd, Jesus. 

Paul resurrected the young man by laying his body on top of the trouble maker and putting his arms around him.  He took the boy’s death as his own.  The people cried for him and rejoiced for him.  We can see Christian comfort here.

“Comfort” means “to call alongside”.  It means to call a weak person to come to your side, and encourage and comfort them.  Paul in order to strongly encourage Christian hearts he called people to come to his side and he encourage them with the Word of God. He was careful not to be a stumbling block to the weak by finding a way to bring the offering to the Jerusalem church in such a way as to protect the weak Christians.  He put his arms around a young trouble maker and helped him stand up again. He rejoiced in the fact that 1 lost sheep returned rather than considering the problems that the lost sheep had caused.  Being sympathetic and thinking about others is the way Christians encourage their brothers and sisters in Christ and through this encouragement comfort each other.  This is how the church should be. We need to have the heart of Christ and give this type of encouragement.

Today’s message title comes from verse 23. “The way” refers to Christianity.  In Hebrews 10:20 it is called “the new living way”.  Christians are those who walk in the way.  There are times when Christians walk on the way and an unthinkable      disturbance occurs, but still they need to continue walking in the way.  Not only do they just continue walking on the way, but by doing so they show the world that the way is the only living way and is a way of overflowing power and blessings. Today let’s look at 3 aspects of living by the way.

I.            A great disturbance (vs. 21-23)

              Whenever Christians strive to walk in the way, they almost always run into problems.  In this passage, Paul’s ministry in Ephesus is coming to an end.  For 3 years Paul never stopped preaching the Gospel “night and day with tears” in Ephesus. (20:31) When the ministry was slowing to a close, the Holy Spirit led him to go to Jerusalem through Macedonia and Achaia. Paul went through Macedonia and Achaia because of the friction in the Corinthian church.  He heard that there were many problems in the Corinthian church.  He tried to solve the problem by sending letters to the church, but they didn’t solve the problems well.  Therefore, Paul thought of not only going to Corinth to help solve the problems there, but to also encourage the church face to face.  However, his plan didn’t end there.  He thought of going from there to Jerusalem and then from there on to Rome.  Like the 2^nd missions trip this was to report to the Jerusalem church about the 3^rd mission trip and also to give the offerings from the churches in Macedonia and Achaia.

              Paul’s reason for wanting to go to Rome was not only that Rome was the center of the world, but because at that time Rome was considered to be the “ends of the earth”.  Paul knew that bringing the Gospel to the “ends of the earth” was the will of God.

Acts 1:8

In order for this promise to be fulfilled, it was necessary that the word of God be spread to “the ends of the earth”, Rome.  This was the will of God. However when Paul wanted to follow the Holy Spirit and go through Macedonia and Achaia to Jerusalem and Rome, the Bible tells us that he ran into a problem.  First Timothy and Epaphras were sent to Macedonia and Achaia. Paul was planning to go later, but was going to stay in Ephesus for a short time.  However at that time a great disturbance          occurred. There was a silversmith name Demetrius who made a good living by making silver idols of Artemis. Lot’s of people were making decisions for Christ so it was putting him and the other craftsmen out of business so they caused a great disturbance.                     Paul’s good plans of going to Jerusalem and then on to Rome by way of Macedonia and Achaia were being blocked.  Whenever we are moving forward with the Gospel and tackling the spread of the Kingdom of God problems occur which puts an obstacle in the way.

The time has come for the Nishiyama family to leave for their evangelistic missionary field.  However, a problem occurred. The papers they needed from the language school  in order to get a student visa didn’t come.  When they contacted the school they found out that the documents that the school had sent had gotten lost.  The school told them come on a traveling visa and later change the visa status to student.  Therefore, they are planning to go. Whenever, we start to move forward for the Kingdom of God, things like this happen.

About 445 B.C. Nehemiah who had returned to Jerusalem started to build the temple walls again and the same thing happened.  People objected to the work.  When Sanballat and Tobiah, an Ammonite, heard that the wall was being repaired, they got mad, and fought against it.  Tobiah said, “What they are building-if even a fox climbed up on it, he would break down their wall of stones!” (Neh. 4:3)                                              They got even madder when the Israelites continued to work on the wall regardless of his threat.  They plotted together to put an obstacle in the way of building and “stir up trouble against it.” (Neh. 4:8).  Therefore the Israelites continued working on the wall by working with one hand and holding a weapon in their other hand. They were able to complete the wall within 52 days.  God didn’t allow the wall to be built without any obstacles in the way. Rather, He led them to overcome the obstacles and to complete the wall.  We are the same.  

I Timothy 3:12

Paul was persecuted so much!  When we are tackling the spread of the King of God, some kind of obstacle always occurs. However no matter what kind of obstacle it is, a really victorious person will overcome it.  How do we overcome these obstacles?   Let’s next look at how Paul overcame them.

II.              The power of the Gospel (vs. 24-32)

Paul’s evangelism became a trigger for a great disturbance that occurred in Ephesus.  This was because Demetrius and the other silversmiths were making a good living on making silver idols of Artemis. However, Paul said that things made by hands were not gods so their business went bad.  Therefore, Demetrius caused a huge ruckus.  Artemis was originally one of the Olympus gods known as a goddess of the hunt, the forest, and wildlife. In the area of Ephesus from old times Artemis became tied with the fertility gods.  Therefore, Artemis was a woman with many breasts and was worshiped as a god of many births.  The shrine where Artemis was worshiped, the Shrine of Artemis, was a gorgeous beautiful shrine.  It greatly influenced Ephesus religion and economy. It was said that the                                     festivals and customs related to this shrine built up Ephesus.  When there were festivals many worshipers and tourists came and had a great influence on the economy of Ephesus.  Around the temple were many store booths and there were many which sold the silver idols of Artemis and was one of the major items sold there. Therefore, many people’s livelihood in Ephesus was connected to Artemis.

The other day when Dr. Gessley came we took him and his wife to Nikko      Toshogun Temple. Nikko is the same.  There are many souvenir shops and restaurants there. The people of Nikko depend upon the temple for their livelihood.  If it disappeared they would have a difficult time.  This is what happened in Ephesus.  Paul came and said that that these things made by hands are not gods.  Therefore, many people turned to the real God so Artemis and the temple were no longer necessary for them.  Demetrius’ sales went way down so he gathered together the other people of the same profession and accused Paul.  Probably he was like the head of an union.

The accusation against Paul consisted of 3 points.

1.           They receive a good income because of the work they do.

2.        Because Paul was saying that the idols made by human hands were not gods the great Artemis temple was not only discredited, but she “will be robbed of her divine majesty.” (27)

3.           As a result they were in danger of loosing their jobs and their reputation.  In other words, what Demetrius is giving as the problem is that their lifestyle is at stake.  At a short glance it looks like they are worried about Artemis’ glory, but in reality that is not what they see as the problem.  In reality they are worried about the danger of their business not being able to stand.  This was the cause of the disturbance.  This is the same as when Paul evangelized in Philippi.  When Paul cast the evil spirit out of the slave that was possessed with an evil spirit, her owner brought Paul before the magistrates.  It was for the same reason; they were making money off of her. They had lost their income so they brought Paul before the magistrates. 

Jesus had the same thing happen when he went to Gerasenes.    Jesus drove evil spirits out of the man.  The evil spirits “went into pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.” (Mark 5:13)  Therefore, the owners of the pigs went and told everyone about it and all the people pleaded “with Jesus to leave their region.” (17)  A lot of people think of the worship of God as a means of profit. Demetrius was such a person.  He said, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians.” (28) However, at the same time in his heart he was only thinking about his own wallet.  Unfortunately as a result the disturbance escalated. “Soon the whole city was in an uproar.  The people seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia, and rushed as one man into the theater.”  It had developed into a riot.  Lots of people didn’t even know why they were there.  The crowd had become hysteric. It was out of control.

When you think about it the riot was the result of Paul preaching the Gospel.   The Gospel that Paul preached changed the Ephesians’ hearts.  It changed the hearts of worshippers throughout Asia.  Those who received the Gospel that Paul was preaching no longer needed the Great goddess Artemis. They were changed into people who didn’t need the temple.  The Gospel has that much power!

II Cor. 5:17

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  It is the power to change people from being in a state of death to return to the living God.  This is one of the reasons that the Roman empire began to persecute Christians so heavily.  Christianity may not do anything, but by preaching the Gospel, it has the power to make the businesses of those who support other religious temples, and who make their livelihood by selling things go down.  It has the power to change people’s lifestyles and hobbies.  This is the way.  This is what caused the disturbance. It is natural for this kind of disturbance to take place because their livelihood depended upon their sales.  However, what is more important than you own lifestyle is what the truth is that leads people to salvation.  If  the road you have been walking on up until now is wrong, even if in may effect your lifestyle, it is necessary to return to the right road.  Then the Lord will take care of us.

The God that we believe in is the true God.  This God has the power to make us into totally new people.  We are made anew by the Gospel.  When we preach the Gospel, we have many struggles, but at the same time this is showing the power of the Gospel.  No matter how big of a problem it causes, there is no need to be afraid.  We need only to believe in the power of the Gospel to save and stand strongly upon the Gospel.

III.         Trusting in the Living God  (vs.33-41)

              “The assembly was in confusion and no one knew what they were doing.  Then “the Jews pushed Alexander to the front, and some of the crowd shouted instructions to him.  He motioned for silence for in order to make a defense before the people.  But when they realized he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison for about two hours: ‘Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!’” (33,34)  There was no solution to the problem.  It was the city clerk who finally quieted the crowd.  He said “Men of Ephesus, doesn’t all the world know that the city of Ephesus is the guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image, which fell from heaven?  Therefore, since these facts are undeniable, you ought to be quiet and not do anything rash.” (35,36)  After saying this he said about the Christians they had brought, “they have neither robbed temples nor blasphemed our goddess.” (37) In other words he pronounced them “not guilty”. Then he gives his advice to Demetrius in verses 38 and 39. 

              The city clerk’s words were successful in calming down the crowds.  We don’t know if he believed in Artemis or not.  His only concern was that the riot calm down before they were “charged with rioting” (40)  In other words he was afraid of his life. Therefore, he was no different than Demetrius.

              You will notice that Paul says nothing during this time.  This is because Paul wasn’t there. Paul wanted to go there, “but the disciples would not let him.”  In other words neither Paul nor anyone else gave a defense or a message.  The riot just started and stopped on its own. Luke was probably writing this to show through this riot who the real true God is.  In other words, the shallowness of idols made by human hands, people who use religion for their own livelihood.

              The real God is not made by human hands.  His divine majesty is not robbed.  The real God does not have to cause a riot against other faiths in order that the real God’s faith will stand.  The real God gives peace and meaning. He gives the only answer for death. He forgives sin. Without saying anything, He calms down rioting. There are people who use religion for their profit.    The real god is whom we need to trust.  When we try to walk on the way of truth many obstacles appear, but we need to trust in the real God.  We need to put our faith in the true God and worship Him.   We need to pray and read the Bible and trust in God.  This is the key to overcoming obstacles put in our path.

              Matt. 6:31-34

The problem is what we are putting first in our lives.  Our lives are full of problems that we can worry about.  However, God wants us to trust in him instead of worrying.  That’s because our God is real. He is awesome. He will give us all things.  This is what the riot in Ephesus is teaching us.

2 weeks ago we looked at the evangelism of Ephesus on Paul’s third missionary trip.  If we look at verse 8 we can see that first of all Paul evangelized in the Jewish synagogue for 3 months. Then in verse 9 and 10 we are told that he continued to evangelize at the lecture hall of Tyrannus for 2 years.  Altogether Paul was in Ephesus for 3 years. (20:31) For 3 years Paul never stopped preaching the Gospel “night and day with tears” in Ephesus. (20:31)
Three years was the longest stay in one missionary location that Luke records, but, the Bible records very little about the ministry there.  It tells us about the baptism in the name of Jesus Christ and the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples who only knew about the baptism of John.  We looked at this passage, 19:1-7, two weeks ago.  The only other record is this week’s passage, 19:8-20 and from verse 21to the end of the chapter which we will look at next week. For having stayed in Ephesus for 3 years that is a very short passage! That is because Luke chose a few events out of the 3 years worth of events to exemplify his conclusion of 19:20. In other words, Luke was focusing his writings on the fact that the “word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.” (19:20) Today let’s look at 3 ways in which “word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.” (19:20)

1. At the lecture hall of Tyrannus  (vs. 8-10)
When Paul arrived in Ephesus, he went to the Jewish synagogue like he always did and preached the Word of God.  However, this time he continued preaching there for 3 months.  This was unusual for Paul to continue preaching in a synagogue that long. Before when Paul came to Ephesus the people asked Paul to stay longer and preach. (18:20) so we can assume that Paul was really welcomed there.  There Paul “spoke boldly…arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God.” (8)  However, some of the people who heard Paul preaching “became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way So Paul left them.  He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.” (9)
Tyrannus was a person’s name.  We don’t know who he was.  He was probably the owner of the hall or one of the main speakers at the hall. The Greek word “hall” is the roots for the English word school.  In other words it was a place of instruction where people could discuss and debate together. At that time people worked until about 11:00 a.m.  The afternoon was a time of rest, a Siesta time.  During this Siesta time some people slept, others enjoyed their hobbies, and others studied.  When everyone else was taking their Siesta, the believers and those who were interested in the Gospel, met in the Tyrannus hall to hear the word of God.  What zealousness!  They gave up their nap in exchange for studying the Word of God.  They loved the Word of God more than their nap.  Of course, faith isn’t something we do in our free time or for leisure。 However, the fact that they were willing to use their Siesta time for studying the Bible shows their zealousness for the Lord.  The way we use our free time shows the type of person we are and the type of lifestyle that we have. No matter what Church you are in, Christians who are using their free minutes to study the Word of God are lay evangelists who a doing a great work for the Lord. Paul was spending time with such Christians everyday discussing the Bible.
However, according to verse 10 this continued for 2 years “so all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.” This is amazing! It is thought that during this time the Churches in Colosse, Laodicea, and the 7 churches that appear in Revelations were established at this time.  Let’s look at why the word of God spread out to all the provinces of Asia.
1. First was the fact that Ephesus was a strategic center.  Ephesus was a huge city like present day Tokyo where many people from local areas met together.  Therefore people who heard the Gospel in Ephesus took it back to their local areas.  These people really did a wonderful work in their own area.  For example, Paul never went to Colosse, but a church was established there because they had learned about the Gospel from Epaphras. (Colossians 1:7)  Probably Epaphras came to Ephesus and at the hall of Tyrannus heard the Word of God from Paul. When he returned to Colosse, he preached it.  In other words, the ministry at the hall of Tyrannus was like an evangelistic center for all of the provinces of Asia.
We can say the same thing about the huge city Otawara. When you hear that Otawara is a huge city, you may laugh, but it is true.  Now with the progress made in public transportation and the internet, even those in the country can live like those who live in huge cities.  That means that Word of God that is preached at the Sunday morning service is extremely important.  That is because if those who hear the Word of God on Sunday would return to their places and give testimony to the Word, then the Word will spread throughout the country.  It will become the roots for the starting of new churches and fruit will grow. We need to spread out our peripheral by putting this perspective in our evangelistic vision.
2. Another reason is Paul continued to preach the Word of God for 2 years.  To preach the Gospel is work that requires strong perseverance. You don’t see results right away. You can’t know whether you succeeded or failed right away.  You need strong perseverance to be able to continue day after day. The handkerchiefs and aprons that are mentioned in verse 12 were probably used by Paul in his tent making. That means that he was probably making tents as well as evangelizing.  In the morning he probably worked like every one else and during the Siesta time preached the Word of God.  He must have been very busy with very little free time. He may have even gone to the Tyrannus in his work clothes.   Later Paul said to the elders of the Ephesian church, “You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I came into the province of Asia, I served the Lord with great humility and with tears, although I was severely tested by the plots of the Jews.  You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house.  I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.” (20:18-21)  “Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.” (20:31)
This is something that can not be done without tears.  Paul continued training them with tears day and night.  As a result all the people in Asia were able to hear the Gospel.  The important thing is that no matter the condition we are in to continue to preach the Gospel.  I think the words that God spoke to Paul in his dream in Corinth was always in Paul’s heart encouraging him to continue to preach the Gospel.

II. A powerful work (vs. 11-16)
In Ephesus not only did Paul preach the Word of God in the synagogue and the hall of Tyrannus, but many miracles were also performed.  If we look at verse 23 and following we can see that Ephesus was a very spiritual city.  It was a town of idols centered around Artemis. In this type of city not only preaching the Gospel, but the “extraordinary miracles” (11) were important for the spread of the Gospel.
Here the miracles that were performed by Paul were not the usual miracles, but no ordinary ones, so they were called “extraordinary miracles”.  Paul’s handkerchiefs and aprons “were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.” (12)  This is similar to the miracles performed in 5:15 where “people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of the as he passed by.”  In this case the people took Paul’s handkerchiefs and aprons to the sick, “and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.” (12)
Ephesus was a city of idols and among them the famous Artemis.  Therefore, such miracles were important in showing the people in a way that they could see the spiritual warfare going on. Not only that but it set the stage for the next event which is recorded in verses 13-16.
Here some Jews who drive out evil spirits come on the scene.  Since Ephesus was the center of the Asian provinces and was full of idolatry it was only natural that there be people who drive out evil spirits. These Jews who drive out evil spirits were amazed by the miracles that Paul was performing and wanted to be able to do the same thing so they “tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed.” (14)  One day they said, “In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” (15)  and the evil spirit responded, “Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” (15)  Then the man with the evil spirit beat them up to the point “that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.” (16) These Jews who did this are introduced as the “seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest.” (14)
Their mistake was in thinking the name of Jesus had some kind of special power. They thought that just by saying, “Jesus” that something amazing would happen. They thought that just by saying, “Jesus” that anything they wanted would be done. This kind of thinking is seen commonly in Japan.  If you say the Buddhist prayer nothing bad will come upon you.  If you hang a safe transportation charm on your car, then you won’t have an accident.  However, just because you do that doesn’t mean that you’re necessarily going to be safe.   When there is a traffic accident, the car involved often has the sticker from a famous shrine or temple on it.
It is also interesting that when the seven sons of Sceva tried to cast out the demon in the name of Jesus, that the demons said that they didn’t know who the seven sons of Sceva were.  In human society we can deceive other people, but we can’t deceive the spiritual world.   The “evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all.  He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.” (16)  As a result, “when this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor.” (17)

III. They were all seized with fear (vs. 17-20)
This event more that Paul’s “extraordinary miracles” amazed people.  And this event became known to all of those in Ephesus. In other words, all Jews and all Greeks living there became aware of the event and were “seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor.” (17)
Not only that but according to verses 18 and 19, not only those people who didn’t know Christ, but many Christians too “came and openly confessed their evil deeds.” (18)  They brought the scrolls that they had used in sorcery and burned them. “When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas.” (19)  A drachma was a silver coin worth about a day’s wages.
Ephesians 5:8-12
There are cases when Christians do what “is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.” (Ephesians 5:12) They still have something “to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness.” (Ephesians 5:11)   This isn’t just the Ephesians, but us too.  If we are involved in such deeds of darkness, we need to bring them out and no matter what their value is burn them and throw them away.   This is because “the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth.” (Ephesians 5:9) This is what God desires.   If we repent of our sins and return to God, it will have the same purpose as Paul’s “extraordinary miracles”. By fearing God and repentance, the Word of God will spread out. This was the source of the Ephesus revival.
In other words, Paul continued to preach the Word of God in the idol filled Ephesus.  Also by the amazing work of God there was victory over the evil spirits. Also by the sons of Sceva being over powered by the demons, everyone was “seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor.” (17) Also believers repented and the Word of God “spread widely and grew in power.” (20)
There are times when we wonder if what we are doing has meaning or not.   However, we need to continue to preach the Word of God and day and night cry out to the Lord.   If we continue in the encouragement of the Lord’s work then people will fear God and repent and people will continue to come into the faith.  Let’s believe this and continue in the Lord’s encouragement.

In verse 1 we are told, “While Apollos was at Corinth Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus.” On the second mission trip when Paul was leaving Ephesus, he said, “I will come back if it is God’s will.” (18:21) It was the will of God and now he is returning once again to Ephesus. When Paul returns to Ephesus, he meets up with some brothers who are a little strange. They were Christians, but they had a limited understanding of the gospel. Paul asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” (2) To receive the Holy Spirit means that their relationship with God is renewed, that they received eternal life, in other words, that they are saved. The Holy Spirit is a central teaching of Christianity and an important theme. However, there are many cases besides this one of not really understanding about the Holy Spirit. Today let’s look at 3 aspects of receiving the Holy Spirit

I. Did you receive the Holy Spirit? (vs. 1-3)
First let’s look at the importance of receiving the Holy Spirit. When Paul returned to Ephesus, he met some disciples. The word “disciples” means disciples of Jesus Christ and refers to Christians. For Paul to ask Christians if they had received the Holy Spirit or not, seems a little rude. This is because I Cor. 12:3 says, “no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit.” Therefore, it would be impossible for someone to accept Christ as their Savior and believe in Him, and not to have received the Holy Spirit. Anyone that is a Christian has received the Holy Spirit. Paul probably asked this question because he sensed something was a little different about them. They answered his question with, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” (2) If they were Christians, they would have repented of their sin, believed that Jesus Christ had died on the cross for their sins and 3 days later rose again, and would have received forgiveness and eternal life. At that time they would have received the Holy Spirit. In other words, they had received the Holy Spirit, but they didn’t realize it. This was because they didn’t know anything about the Holy Spirit. In other words, they believed in Christ, but they didn’t understand the Gospel fully.
They had received “John’s baptism” (3) ２ weeks ago we looked at John’s baptism when we looked at Apollos who had “a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures”. (18:24) Even though he was such a learned man, like these disciples, he only knew about John’s baptism. Not only that, but Apollos was here in Ephesus. Perhaps these disciples had received their teaching from Apollos himself in his earlier state of partial understanding. John’s baptism was the water baptism that John performed at the Jordan River. It was a baptism of repentance in preparation for the coming of Jesus. Therefore, it was different from the baptism of the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus Christ. John’s baptism was based on repentance rather than on faith in the finished work of Christ. Therefore, they didn’t know the grace and joy of salvation through the Holy Spirit.
“There were about twelve men in all.” (7) Possibly they were single men, but we don’t know. Since they were all men it is possible that they were living a life of like John eating locusts and honey and wearing clothes made of camel’s hair. His lifestyle was a visual protest against self-indulgence and many of his followers also lived a simple self-disciplined lifestyle as a sign of repentance. It may have been this lifestyle and the lack of the joy and other fruits of the Spirit that caused Paul to ask if they had been baptized with the Spirit or not. This is not teaching what Pentecostals teach as “the second experience”. These men had a limited understanding of the gospel like Apollos. Anyone who repents of their sins, and believes that Jesus died on the cross for their sins and rose 3 days later receives forgiveness of sins and eternal life. At that time they also receive the Holy Spirit. In other words they had received the Holy Spirit, but they just didn’t understand that fact.
This is something we see quite often. Many people believe that Jesus is God. They believe that if they believe in Christ that they can go to heaven and that they are saved. However, they don’t realize that the Holy Spirit gives joy, peace and thanksgiving. They don’t fully realize what it means to believe in Christ and so they live like non Christians. This is like the 12 disciples. To these people Paul is asking, “have you received the Holy Spirit?”
How about you, have you received the Holy Spirit? In John 7:37 and 38, Jesus said. , “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me as the Scriptures has said streams of living water will flow from within him.” The living water is the Holy Spirit. Any one who comes to Jesus and drinks, in other words, believes in Christ “streams of living water will flow from within him.” The Holy Spirit will flow from within him. He will experience not superficial joy and peace, but joy and peace and the fruit of the Spirit from deep within.
When we believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior, the Holy Spirit is given to us. The important thing is to come to Jesus and drink from him. Then you will have living water, the Holy Spirit, flowing from the innermost part of your heart.

II. Baptism in the name of our Lord (4,5)
After the people said that they had received the John’s baptism, Paul said, “’John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.’ On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.’” (4,5)
A baptism into the name of the Lord Jesus Christ is a baptism of those who believe that Jesus is their Savior. In other words, it is not just repenting of sin, but involves in accepting Jesus as your personal Savior and believing in the work of salvation in the cross and resurrection. It is accepting Jesus as your savior.
Romans 6:3-8
It is not just repenting of sin, but accepting and believing that Jesus was put on the cross and died for those sins and then rose 3 days later. Those who believe this have eternal life and forgiveness of sin. This type of person is baptized in the Holy Spirit. He is baptized into the name of Christ. Water baptism symbolizes this. Just as Jesus dies on the cross we die to ourselves and are buried in the water. Just as Jesus rose from the dead, we rise out of the water to a new life in Christ. We have the life of Christ and can begin living a new life in Him. Therefore, if we have been baptized, we are saved and it is not necessary to be baptized again.
There are some groups like the Anabaptists that teach if you aren’t completely immersed when you are baptized or there was something about the baptism that isn’t in keeping with the denomination that you must be baptized again. However that isn’t necessary. In this case they were baptized again because they had not been baptized into the name of the Lord. If you have been baptized into the name of the Lord then it is not necessary to be baptized again.
Also sometimes we are depressed and worried about many things, and at times we wonder if we really didn’t have faith when we were baptized. We think that maybe we should be baptized again. However that is not necessary. That’s not a problem with the baptism, but a problem with faith. We need to not be controlled by our emotions, but by the Word of God.

III. The Holy Spirit came on them (vs. 6)
Lastly, let’s look at the result of being baptized into the name of the Lord. After being baptized into the name of the Lord, “the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.” (6) Speaking in tongues and prophesizing were 2 of the gifts that were prominent in the early church.
I Cor. 14:2,3
In other words, these 12 disciples left their strict life of discipline and had joy, were changed into Christians who praised God, and witnessed to others. This is the result of Paul’s good news. When a person is born anew by the Holy Spirit, they will be changed into a life like these men experienced.
Have you received the Holy Spirit? Is Jesus the Lord of your life? If so you will be changed into a person who sings with joy and earnestly witnesses. If this is not so, there is a reason. It is said that in the church there are two types of people. There are Christians by name and by custom and there are Christians whose faith and life are unified. There are those in the church that worship God out of custom and there are those who worship God in Spirit and in truth. There are those who give their hearts to the world and those who give their hearts to God. There are some people who believe in the Bible and earnestly strive to follow the Bible and there are those who don’t. To be born again is to live in the life of God. In other words, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” This is a question about rebirth. It is a challenging message to us to be changed into a new being. It is the most important question in our lives. Have you received the Holy Spirit?
The key for having victory over sin in our lives is being filled with the Holy Spirit. If we are filled with the Holy Spirit, then we can overcome sin. Through the Holy Spirit, we are able to have new strength, and want to do what is right. The Holy Spirit gives the strength to put these things in our lives. When the Holy Spirit works in our lives, we become more and more like Christ.
The power of God can change our broken hearts to joy. By walking with God we can have peace. That is how people who are filled with the Spirit are. For example if we are sad, then we have peace that prevents us from being totally pushed out of shape by sadness. Have you received the Holy Spirit? Do you have new life through the Holy Spirit? Let’s walk together with the Holy Spirit in this new life.

When Priscilla and Aquila heard Apollos speaking, they invited him to their house and explained the way of God more adequately to Apollos.  Apollos accepted their message, and later went to Achaia and proved through the word of God that Jesus was Christ and greatly encouraged the Christians there. Today let’s look at 3 things that we can learn from Priscilla and Aquila’s ministry of explaining the way to God more adequately.

I. The defects in Apollos’ faith (vs.24,25)
Paul returned from his second missionary journey, greeted the church in Jerusalem and then went to the Antioch church where he stayed for some time.  Then he left on another missionary trip.  This is the third missionary trip which is recoded from here until 21:16 and on. This trip was thought to be three and a half years.  On this trip he spent most of his time in Ephesus. This missionary trip’s purpose was to strengthen all the disciples.  Therefore, he went around to the churches in Asia Minor and then went on towards Ephesus.  His stay in Ephesus is recorded in 19:1 and on.  While he was going to Ephesus, something happened in Ephesus which is today’s passage.
Apollos, a learned man, a Jew from Alexandria came to Ephesus.  He had a “thorough knowledge of the Scriptures” (24), “taught about Jesus accurately” (25), spoke with great fervor in the Spirit, “and was instructed in the way of the Lord” (25). A learned man didn’t just mean that he spoke eloquently, but meant that he had enough knowledge and training, and learning. Also “a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures”(24) didn’t just mean that he had knowledge of the Bible, but that he was well versed in the Bible.  Not only that, He was very enthusiastic towards evangelism, and with great fervor in the Spirit he spoke about Christ boldly.  He was smart and spoke eloquently. Also he spoke not timidly, but boldly and at the same time calmly and composed.  He was this type of a person so probably he was able to reach out to the hearts of many people.  In fact, later when he evangelized in Corinth there were people who said “I belong to Apollos”.  He had that much appeal.
However, that did not mean that he was without faults.  Apollos was versed        in the Bible, but he only knew about the baptism of John.  John’s baptism was the baptism that John received and refers to the baptism of repentance.  This is written about fully in Luke chapter 3.  John said that the person that came after him was so powerful that he wasn’t even worthy of tying his shoes.  John preached that to prepare for Jesus’ coming everyone needed to repent of their sin and be baptized.  This baptism was for the forgiveness of sins, a baptism for repentance. Apollos only knew about John’s baptism.   However, to believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, and to be baptized in the Name of our Lord Jesus, is in essence different.  Apollos knew the Messiah prophesized about in the Old Testament was Jesus Christ, and that he was coming and to be prepared for that we must repent of our sins.  However, he didn’t know well that Jesus was put on the cross and died, and by being raised back up 3 days later those who believe are given the blessings of forgiveness of sin and eternal life. In other words, he didn’t know about the baptism of the Holy Spirit very well. He didn’t know well that when the Holy Spirit came on Pentecost, the Christian church was born.  What he knew was that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ. This was not wrong, but it wasn’t a full understanding.  It is a little strange that Apollos who was well versed in the Scriptures, and taught well the way of the Lord, wouldn’t know this type of basic things.  The Bible wasn’t completed like it is today, so everything was passed by word of mouth.   Therefore, it was difficult to understand everything perfectly.
However, now that the Bible has been completed and every individual person can read it, anyone who wants to know more about the Bible, can know more about it.  However, sometimes even if we have enough knowledge and training, we have little interest in spiritual things or the opposite we are really interested in things of the Spirit, but have little knowledge of the Bible. In order to be used as a worker of the Lord, a correct knowledge and enthusiasm towards the Bible, both are needed.  Therefore, let’s make every effort to gain a correct knowledge of the Bible.  Next let’s see how Apollos overcame his defects.

ＩＩ． The love of Priscilla and Aquila
It was Priscilla and Aquila who were used to help Apollos to overcome his defects. Apollos like Paul went to the Jewish synagogue and began to boldly speak. It is thought that he spoke eloquently based upon his learning and knowledge of the Bible.  The crowd who heard him was deeply moved.  However, when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they realized that there was a huge defect in his message. Therefore, they invited Apollos to their house and ”explained to him the way of God more adequately.” (26)   Priscilla and Aquila appear in 18:2,3.  When Paul evangelized in Corinth he made tents with them.  When Paul went to Antioch they went with him as far as Ephesus.  Paul was in a rush to bring the offerings from the Macedonian churches to Jerusalem so he left, but Priscilla and Aquila stayed and Ephesus and continued evangelizing.
It was quite a thing that they realized that there was a defect in Apollos’ message, but more than that is their willingness to invite Apollos to their home and teach him.  That’s not something that is easy to do.  Probably because they had evangelized with Paul and Paul had taught them the way of God, they realized that there was a difference between what Apollos was teaching and what Paul was teaching.  They invited Apollos to their home and ”explained to him the way of God more adequately.” (26) Here we can see their actions of building him up.  For example, when a young pastor evangelist with little experience is called to a church, it is difficult for those who have been true to their faith for a long time, and those who know the Bible well to accept the new pastor or evangelist. They think that maybe the new pastor or evangelist may have studied the Bible more or less, but when it comes to experience in the faith and the way to run the church they know more.  They find defects even in an experienced pastor so with young pastors and preachers they really find the defects.  Whether in public or in private, it’s easy to criticize. At such times it’s difficult to be like Priscilla and Aquila and invite the pastor or evangelist to your house, and teach the way of God more adequately to him.  They didn’t in the synagogue or in their home criticize Apollos.  They kindly and politely taught him so that Apollos would become even more used of God as an evangelist.
We should notice that they did this in their home.  If they did this in front of the congregation, it probably would have ruined Apollos.  They thought about Apollos and how to support him. In other words, this was their love towards Apollos.  They thought as much of Apollos as they thought of themselves.  This is because they loved the Lord.  A person who loves the Lord loves the church.  Such a person always takes care in building up the church.

III. Apollos who was a great help to the believers. (vs. 27b-28)
“When Apollos wanted to go to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him.”  Therefore, Apollos when went there where “he vigorously refuted the Jews in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.” (28) As a result “he was a great help to those who by grace had believed.” (27)  We can see the type of work he did in the letter that Paul wrote to the Corinthian church. “”I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.”(I Cor. 3:6)  In other words, Paul planted the church, but Apollos worked to help the Christians to grow spiritually.  Of course it was God who made it grow.
Apollo’s greatness was when in the Corinthian church some people began to say, “I belong to Apollos.” Apollos slipped away to Ephesus.  He didn’t want to be exalted.  Instead, when he was faced with such a situation, he slipped away and no matter how much he was asked to, he never went back to Corinth.  That’s how much Apollos had grown.  The ministry of love that Aquila and Priscilla had helped him to grow up wonderfully into a blooming flower.
When you think about it if Priscilla and Aquila hadn’t invited him to their house and “explained to him the way of God more adequately”, then he would not have had this kind of a ministry.  Because they taught him, he was able to have such a ministry. No one ever dreamed of this.  It was just because Priscilla and Aquila did what the Holy Spirit showed them to do that a seed was planted in Apollos and it caused him to grow greatly.
We may not be anyone special.  We may never make any special records.  We may be like Priscilla and Aquila and stand behind the stage. However, we can have an influence like Priscilla and Aquila.   When we study the Bible well, understand it correctly and use the gifts faithfully that we have been given, we will be used greatly to build up the Kingdom of God.  For us that is our greatest joy.

Words can greatly encourage and be a strong support to us in our lives.  We have experienced being able to go through trials and difficulties by holding onto one such word.  The words that Paul received from God in verses 9 and 10 supported Paul throughout his 1 and half year stay in Corinth. Because of the support he received from these words, Paul was able to continue his ministry in Corinth.
In today’s passage there is an event that testifies to the trustworthiness of these words.  “While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him into court.” (12) However, Gallio thought that their charges were not legal ones, only religious one so he didn’t take up their issues.  Here the word of God was trustworthy.  What the Lord says always happens.  As the Lord had said, no one was able to hurt him.  Anyone who lives by the encouragement of the Lord’s words will have a blessed life.  Today let’s look at three things about Paul’s life who lived by the will of God.

I. God who guides by his will (vs.12-17)
In Corinth as a result of Paul’s evangelism, many people believed and were baptized.  Some Jews were burning with jealousy over this and “made a united attack on Paul and brought him into court” (12) before Gallio. “’This man,’ they charged, ‘is persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the law.’”    This “law” was not the Old Testament law.  It was the Roman law.  If it was the Old Testament law, then there was no meaning in bringing him before the proconsul.   They were saying that the religion that Paul was evangelizing was not accepted by the Roman government so the Roman law should stop it.
Up until now Paul has been accused many times, but this time it had a comparatively much more important meaning to it.  He was accused in Philippi and Thessalonica too, but in Philippi Paul was brought before the magistrates and in Thessalonica he was brought before the city officials.  However this time is different.  This time he is brought before the Roman proconsul.  Before when the Jewish priests and teachers accused Jesus before Pilate, it was the same proconsul.  It was different than being brought before the magistrates or the city officials.  Whatever sentence that Roman proconsul gave it was affective not only in the state that was in his jurisdiction but also became precedent for all other sentences that were given by other proconsuls in other states.  Therefore, it was very important.  If Paul would have been sentenced to his disadvantage, then it would have influenced Christian history.  It was that big of an event.
Verses 14 to 16 tells us how Gallio responded to the Jews accusations.  “Just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio” responded to their accusations. The reason that they were accusing Paul of was about words and their own Jewish law, and about things of faith.  If they were accusing Paul of something that he had done contrary to Roman law, then he could bring up the accusation, but what they were accusing Paul of was not that type of problem, but a problem that had to do with their religion.  Therefore, they should solve the problem amongst themselves.  This wasn’t the type of case they should be bringing before a notorious court.   The proconsul, Gallio distinguished between what kind of cases he should hear and which ones he shouldn’t hear.   He was not only a judge, but also a politician.  He understood the limitations of his position. Therefore, he avoided politics invading the realm of religion.
Just because Gallio responded to the Jews accusation against Paul  saying that Paul had not done anything against the Roman law does not mean that Gallio himself was supportive of Christianity.  It just means that he did not want to have anything to do with the problem.  Even if he stuck his neck out into something that he didn’t know anything about, he wouldn’t be able to make good judgment. Also he knew that his position was to deal with things pertaining to Roman law.  Also in 18:2 the Jews were all expelled from Rome by Claudius. This was the result of the friction and uprising that occurred as a result of Christianity being preached in the Jewish society.  Therefore, Gallio thought that the best thing to do was to have nothing to do with this type of problems.  However、if you look at it another way, God was leading the decisions that Gallio made.  Gallio’s decision put both the Jewish and Christian faith under the safe keeping of the Roman law.  Up until the persecution of Christians by Nero 12 years later in A.D.６４　the Christian Gospel was not in conflict with the Roman law.  It was the leading of the Lord that kept the Gospel free from conflict with the Roman government.
God sometimes like in this case used unbelievers to fulfill　His will.  When Jesus was born, the same was true.  Micah prophesized that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.  Joseph and Mary lived in Nazareth in Galillee. Nazareth and Bethlehem are about 50 kilos away. In order for Jesus to be born in Bethlehem God used the decree of Ceasar Augustus for all people to return to their home town for the censure of the population. Therefore, Joseph and Maria went to Jerusalem because Joseph was of the Davidic line.  God used Ceasar Augusts’ edict to bring them there
The Lord who follows through and does what he says.  Therefore, we need to always keep our eyes focusing on God even when we are facing difficult probleｍｓ．　God misses nothing and works for the good of those who believe in Him.  When we understand this, then all of our problems seem so small.  What we need to look at is not the problems that are in front of us but the God who moves all people and all of history.

II. If it is the will of God. (18-20)
After a long stay of a year and a half in Corinth, Paul went with Aquila and Priscilla to Syria.  Syria is where the Antioch church that sent Paul out was.  After 2 years Paul was ending his second missionary journey.  They left by boat from the Eastern side of Corinth from the port of Cenchrea. Before Paul “sailed, he had his hair cut off at Cenchrea”. Paul had made a vow and now the vow is over so he cut his hair.  This vow is thought to be the Nazarene vow taught about in Deut. 6:2-5.  A Nazarene vow is a vow to be the Lord’s and be separated and holy to Him.  Therefore, you cannot drink. Also during the duration of the vow, you must not shave.  Paul had a strong dedication, a strong longing for something to have made such a vow.  That something is not written here, but we can assume that it had something to do with evangelism.  Now that the evangelism is over in Corinth, he cut his hair and is leaving for Syria.  He had that much of a strong dedication towards the ministry in Corinth.
When they arrived in Ephesus, Paul left Aquila and Priscilla and “went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews.” (19)  The Jews asked “to spend more time with him” but Paul declined.  “But as he left, he promised, ‘I will come back if it is God’s will.” (21)
Ephesus was the capital of Asia. Before when Paul evangelized there, it was open to the Gospel. At that time, the Holy Spirit forbid them to preach the Word of God.  All at once they changed their course and went to Macedonia. (16:6)  Now finally they came to Ephesus.  Not only that but the response from the people was good and they were enthusiastic. They even wanted Paul to stay longer and they wanted to hear the Word of the Lord. Even so Paul announced his departure and set sail.  I don’t think it was because he was a rush to get back to Jerusalem and Antioch because Paul soon after that begins his 3rd missionary trip and comes to Ephesus where he evangelizes for 3 years.  Therefore, there must have been some reason that Paul needed to go back to Jerusalem and Antioch.
The Bible says, “If it is the Lord’s will I will come back.” (21) These words are words of putting all decision in the hands of the Lord, and following Him no matter where he leads.  It is the willingness to do anything that God asks.  At this point Paul may have been trying to decide whether to go on to Jerusalem or to stay in Ephesus.  Paul based his decision upon what was the Lord’s will. The Lord’s will for him was to go to Caesarea to Jerusalem and report to the churches and then go to Antioch.  Paul had wanted to go to Ephesus for a long time. When he finally got there he was welcomed and the people wanted to know more about the Bible.  Therefore, it is only natural that Paul would want to stay there.  Any one in his shoes would want to stay there.  However, Paul wanted to do the Lord’s will and he realized that the Lord’s will was not to stay in Ephesus , but to go to Jerusalem and so he made a decision to do so.  He probably felt that he had to go to Jerusalem to bring offerings to the poor Christians there.  The Antioch church had already collected money to send to the poor in the Jerusalem church, but Paul did this throughout his life as part of his work.  Therefore, even though the ministry in Ephesus had started to bloom, Paul left Ephesus and went to Jerusalem because that was the Lord’s will.
Paul was not moved by his own desires or other people’s kindness.  For him what was the will of God was the number one thing.  He lived by what God wanted.  If returning to Ephesus was the Lord’s will then he would return. Where he went, what he did, everything was according to the will of God.
This is what our Christian life should be like.  What are you looking at as you live this life?  What is the base upon which you commit your life?  Let’s keep our eyes on God and follow the will of God.

III. A person who serves in the church (vs. 22)
Last let’s look at how we can know the will of God.  It is by the Word of God that we know the will of God.  What the Bible says is the base upon which we know what the will of God is, what God wants.  However another thing we must consider is what we should do as a person who serves in the church.
From Acts 15:36 Paul for 4 years has been on the 2nd missionary trip and it is now nearing the end.  Paul left on a boat from Ephesus going to Caesarea to Jerusalem and reported to the church and then to the Antioch church that sent him out.  He also needed to take the offerings for the poor to Jerusalem which was another reason for leaving Ephesus and going to Jerusalem.  However, he was not just going to take the offering, but the Bible says, “he went up and greeted the church”.
Greeting the church is not just saying “Hello”. When it says greet the church it refers to a fellowship of love.  It also meant reporting about the 4 year evangelistic trip.  Paul gave such greetings not only in the Antioch church, but also the Jerusalem church.  Here we can see how Paul served the church.  In other words, Paul’s evangelistic trip wasn’t a one man job. The church sent Paul out.  Paul was a representative of the church to do the work of the church.  When his job was finished then Paul returned to the church and reported all that God had done. Paul always had in his mind that he was a servant of the church. Also this was the principle upon which he determined what the will of God was. In other words, he didn’t go where he wanted to go and avoid going where he didn’t want to go, or just go where people accepted him, and avoid going where he was not accepted, but as a person called by God, as a person who serves in the church, he decided what the will of God was and did it.
Our Christian life isn’t a one man thing.  Through the fellowship of God’s family, the church, we need to seek out the Lord’s will.  That is why Paul didn’t stay in Ephesus. When Paul thought of the whole of God’s kingdom, he realized that there was something more important.  That was the offering and taking it to Jerusalem.  By taking the offering, they would benefit from the grace of fellowship. He also wanted to share with those who sent him out, prayed for him, and supported him.  This was because Paul’s work wasn’t his own work, but the work of the church.
I Cor. 11:26,27
When one part of the body hurts, then the whole body suffers.  If one part rejoices, then all parts rejoice.  We are all the body of Christ.  When we decide on what the will of God is, we need to think about how we should be as a member of the whole family. A mature man of faith does what God wants him to do.
James 4:13-15
God wants us to live by the will of God, not by what we want to do or by what other people are desiring. We do things because it is the will of God. Let’s keep this as the base of our lives.

After leaving Athens, Paul went on to Corinth.  Corinth was about 60 kilos (48 miles) Southwest of Athens. Under the Romans, it became the seat of government for Southern Greece or Achaia and was noted for its wealth.  If you look at the map you can see it was a city-state on the Isthmus of Corinth, the narrow stretch of land that joins the Pelponnesus to the mainland of Greece.  To the west of the isthmus lie the Gulf of Corinth, to the east lies the Saronic Gulf.  I was an important port city and the isthmus was traversed by hauling ships over the rock ridge on sledges so it was an important city for transportation on the land and sea. Therefore business and trade prospered immensely.  However, in places like this where business is developed and prospers almost always morals are lacking. Corinth to morals were lacking and especially sex was misused.  It was so bad that the phrase “Be like the Corinthians” meant “have free sex”.  Paul was in this city and evangelized there for one and a half years.  There aren’t very many examples of Paul being in one city that long.  Today let’s look at why Paul stayed in Corinth for so long.

I. Encouragement of love (vs. 1-5)
When Paul arrived in Corinth, he went to the home of Aquila and Priscilla.  Aquila and his wife had just recently arrived from Rome, having been expelled with all the Jews by Claudius. They were tent makers like Paul so Paul lived there because he though that they could work together while evangelizing. Actually it seems strange that such a top notch teacher of the law like Paul would have the same trade as Aquila and Priscilla, making tents.  Actually it was the custom at that time for the Jewish rabbis to be bivocational so that they would not have to charge for their teaching which they thought was not right to do.
II Thess. 2:9
Paul worked day and night as well as evangelizing.  That must have been very hard on him. However, he did this so that he wouldn’t be a burden on anyone.  He also may have wanted to show the new Christians the importance of working hard. And what a person who preaches the Gospel is really like.
I. Cor. 9:11
This seems like a conflict.   First he says that he works day and night.  Then he says that those that work for the Lord should receive their wages.  He is saying that those who serve in the church have a right to be supported by the church.  However, Paul didn’t use that right. It was because he didn’t want to do anything that might “hinder the gospel of Christ”. (I Cor. 9:12) In the Corinthian church there were some people that thought Paul was using evangelism as an excuse to take money from people and some thought that Paul was deceiving people and taking money.  Normally Christian workers have the right to be supported by the church, but Paul didn’t receive support because he didn’t want to be a stumbling block.  Therefore, Paul received no pay and while working himself, he evangelized. God intended for those who preach the Gospel to be paid.  They have that right.  However, Paul thought that if even 1 person stumbled because he used that right then he shouldn’t use the right.  Therefore, look at verse 5.  “When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching” Silas and Timothy brought offerings from the Church in Macedonia so even if Paul didn’t get any money from the Corinthians, he could still devote “himself exclusively to preaching”. (5) He tells us about this in II Cor. 11:8,9
Here Paul says, “I robbed other churches” Paul is being sarcastic.  In the church there were some people that complained about Paul that he was taking money.  That is why he made such a sarcastic remark.  He hadn’t taken any money from anyone.  He worked as well as evangelized so that he wouldn’t be a burden on anyone.  However, Silas and Timothy when they came from Macedonia, they brought an offering from the Macedonia churches sent from the believers in Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea so he had the necessary money he needed to live on.  Therefore “Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching.” (5)
Even so, it must have been so difficult to continue the Lord’s work in the midst of so many complaints and hurting words.  He must of wondered why people talked about him that way; or why only he had to have so many difficulties. He probably suffered unexplainable frustration. The presence of the couple, Aquila and Priscilla, who invited Paul to their house, lived with him, and worked together with him must have been a great strength of support to his ministry. Also even though they were separated, the Macedonian churches encouraged Paul through their faith and love and by their offering participated in the spread of the Gospel.
Here Aquila and Priscilla are introduced as Jew “who had recently come from Italy…because Claudius had ordered all the Jew to leave Rome.” (2)  Since no mention is made of a conversion and since a partnership is established in work, it is likely that they were already Christians.  Probably they saw Paul in the same town enthusiastically sharing the Gospel and wanted to do something to help.  Then when they found out that they both had the same job, they invited Paul to their home, and then lived together and worked together and supported his ministry.  For Paul who probably felt uncertain about his future lifestyle, their presence must have been a huge help.  If you look at verse 18 you can see that when Paul left for Syria he was “accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila.” (18)  Later they stayed in Ephesus and did a good work there.  In Romans 16:3,4 we are told that “they risked their lives for” Paul (3) and took care of Paul and helped him.  More than that they supported Paul’s disappointed heart
Also the offering that the Macedonian church sent through Silas and Timothy  was also a huge support.
Philippi 4:16
For Paul the offering showed their love and faith.  For an evangelist how great a joy that must have brought.  The offering from the Macedonia church was a great encouragement to Paul.  A family following the Lord, supporting the church,  and supporting the pastor is a precious thing. The presence of believers like this who do what they can do to participate in evangelism builds the church up strongly.

II. Many people are saved. (vs.6-7)
Silas and Timothy brought the offering from Macedonia and as a result “Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.” (5) In other words, he was clearly preaching that Jesus was the Savior that was promised in the Old Testament.  Then “the Jews opposed Paul and became abusive”, so Paul “shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, ‘Your blood by on your own heads!  I am clear of my responsibility.  From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” (6) This is the same thing as when Jesus sent out disciples to evangelize, if the people didn’t accept it, they were to shake the dust off their feet and go on to the next town. (Matt. 10:14) In other words, those who have the responsibilty of preaching the Gospel need to  fulfill that responsibility.  However, whether the person accepts the word or not is the responsibility of the listeners, not the preacher.  Therefore, next Paul says, “I am clear of my responsibility.” (6) This is from the Old Testament in Ezekiel.  Israel’s fall, Israel herself made.  It was not God’s responsibility.  So then from now own Paul changes his emphasis from the Jews to the Gentiles. This was God’s plan to bring the Gospel to all the world.
However, even in the midst of the Jewish opposition, there were some people who believed in the Lord according to verses 7 and 8.  After Paul said, “I will go to the Gentiles,” (6) “Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God.”(7) Paul was so criticized and opposed that you would think Paul would leave and go to a different town, but he didn’t.  He just moved 1 house down the street.  Then “Crispus, the synagogue ruler, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard him believed and were baptized.” (8)
For Paul who had suffered from criticism and opposition, to see so many fruits of salvation, must have been a huge encouragement.  It is said that for an evangelist to  continue the work he needs one of the two following things: to see a lot of fruit or a steady pay.  No matter how poor you are, you can overcome if you see many people being saved.  However, if you don’t have both, it is very difficult to continue.  There are many Japanese pastors who are continuing without both of them.  It’s wonderful that they are just continuing.  No matter how terrible a situation he was in, these kind of fruits of spiritual salvation gave him joy and hope I’m sure.

III. God’s encouragement (vs. 9-11)
However, the greatest encouragement was God’s encouragement.  Paul continued evangelizing in Corinth and an Angel appeared to “Paul　in a vision :”Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent.  For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you.” (8,9) First the angel said, “Do not be afraid”.  What do you suppose Paul was afraid of.  He had already received 2 people to co-operate with him in evangelism, Aquila and Priscilla. He had also received encouragement by the offerings from the Macedonian churches. Even in the midst of opposition, Crispus’ family believed and many Corinthians believed. It seems like there could be no greater encouragement than this.
One thing Paul was probably afraid of was the Jewish opposition. Therefore, God says in verse 10 “For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.”
Secondly, the other thing Paul was possibly worried about was anxiety about when he was going to fall off the mountain top that he was climbing to. When Paul received the offering from the Macedonia churches, he was able to devote himself　exclusively to preaching”. (5) When a person is really struggling, he doesn’t worry about falling.  However, when things are going well, then he tends to have anxiety and fears. However, we can overcome such fears.  Let’s look at how God encouraged Paul.
1. First God promised to be with Paul in verse 10. That must have been a huge encouragement to Paul who was filled with fears.  No matter how strong the opposition or how much he is suffering, he is not alone.  God is with him. A Christian always has God with them no matter what they are suffering. You are never alone. Even if you are suffering from being single, God is always with you.  He is a friend of love.  He will never leave you.
Psalms 23:4
2. Next God promises Paul, “no one is going to attack and harm you” (10)For Paul who faced a lot of opposition, this was a great promise.  The Lord answers us with promises that are a clear answer to the anxieties that we have.
3. Then God says, “I have many people in this city.” (10)  Lot’s of Corinthians were saved, but still there are many of God’s people in the city.  Just because some people were saved doesn’t mean to be content.  God  still has a lot of people in the city.  There’s still a lot of people waiting to hear the Gospel.  Therefore, we need to continue sharing the Gospel.  To hear that there are still God’s people in the town is a great joy for evangelists and pastors to hear.  God’s people are still in the city so we need to continue preaching the Gospel. “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent.” (9)
Sometimes we worry. Sometimes we’re sad. Sometimes we are depressed.  When we are in the midst of such times God sends good Christian friends to encourage us.  Also he encourages us through the word of God.  Therefore, we need to not fear, but continue to preach the Gospel. Our job is to preach the Gospel.  Salvation is the work of God.  Even though there was heated opposition, Paul stayed in this city for a year and a half and continued to preach the Gospel. This is because Paul heard the encouragement.  May we hear such encouragement and continue preaching the word of God

Paul went from Berea to Athens and looked around the city. “He was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.” (16, 17) Paul preached that Jesus is the Savior. “(All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)” (21) So some people wanted to know what the new teaching that Paul was proclaiming so “they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus.” (19) Then they asked to know more about the new teaching that he was presenting.  Today’s passage is the famous sermon that Paul gave at the Areopagus. This is an example of an evangelistic sermon preached to a purely Gentile audience so it has implications for us today. Therefore, today let’s look at 3 implications from this passage.

I. To the unknown god (vs. 22,23)
To answer the Athenian request, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?” (19) “Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: ‘Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious.’” (22)  Just before this sermon, Paul “was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols.” (16) However, now, he shows no sign of being greatly distressed, now does he cut down the Athenians for being worshippers of idol, but in a composed voice and showing respect, he says, “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious.” (22) This way of talking is different from how he usually talks to the Jews.  When he spoke to the Jews, first he spoke from the Old Testament showing that the Messiah, the Savior that was prophesized in the Old Testament was Jesus Christ whom they had put on the cross and killed.  Therefore, they need to repent and believe in the Savior Jesus. This message is different because the listeners are Greek, in other words, Gentiles.  They didn’t have such a great knowledge of the Old Testament.  Therefore, they didn’t know what the Old Testament was teaching about the Messiah.  Therefore, Paul emphasized their burning, zealous religious heart.
Here when Paul talks about their religious heart, he is talking about the heart that all humans have. No matter what religion a person is, all people have this heart of faith.  For some people this heart isn’t for god, but philosophy or values or money, or power, but all people have this religious heart.
Genesis 1:26, 27
When God made man, He made him in the image of God.  “In the image of God” means the reasoning, morality, and the religious spirit that man has. In other words it is the spirit of man that reaches out to something greater than man. It is “the heart of prayer”. All humans have such a heart.  Therefore, even if you do what you want to do, eat what you want to eat, live however you want to live, etc. it doesn’t mean that you are content.  When we reach out to something greater than ourselves, the God who made us and worship Him, pray to Him, fellowship with Him, etc. we are able to have real contentment.  The French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer, and Catholic philosopher, Blaise Pascal said, “Until I rest in you, my heart is moving.”  By our hearts reaching out to God, praying to God, and by fellowshipping with God, we are able to have real peace. This is because we were made in the image of God.  Paul spoke to the Athenian who had such a religious heart.
He did this by talking about the “Unknown god”.  In verse 23 we can see that when Paul walked around Athenian, he saw people praying at the altar of the “unknown god”. Though there are a number of reports of such altars, only Diogenes Alerts in the “Lives of the Philosophers” gives a reason for their origin. According to Alerts, once when Athens was plagued by pestilence in the sixth century B.C. and the city rulers had exhausted all their strategies to abate it, they sent to Crete, asking the prophet Epimenides to come and help.  His remedy was to drive a herd of black and white sheep away from the Areopagus and, wherever they lay down, to sacrifice them to the god of that place.  The plaque was stayed and Diogenes Laertes says that memorial altars with no god’s name inscribed on them may consequently be found throughout Attica.
When Paul went to Athens, one of these altars was still standing there.  People were fervently worshipping there. The Greecians thought that no matter what god, if you didn’t show interest to that god, that god would get angry.  This feeling is easy for us Japanese to understand.  When you think about what to do to keep the god from getting angry, of course worshipping the god is the most sensible thing to do. It is said that at that time in Athens there were more than 3,000 religious buildings or monuments there.  Plus there were altars to “The unknown god”. More than being the zealous religion of the Greeks, it was more a lack of peace spiritually.  They really didn’t care about what they were worshipping.  They just wanted to appease the god’s anger.
Towards this situation, Paul said, “Now you worship something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.” (23)  Paul is saying that God is not an unknown God, but a God that we can know.
Psalms19:1
All of nature which was made by God is a finger print of its creator, God.  However we can only dimly see God through nature.  Through nature we can see that something greater than ourselves made this world, but we can’t see what this god is like.  To know who the creator is, to know who the unknown god is, we must look at Jesus Christ.  Also we must look at the Bible which reveals Jesus Christ and is the greatest present that God has given us.  Therefore, next let’s look at who God is.

II. Knowing the unknown god.  (vs. 24-31)
1. (vs.24,25) The real God is “The God who made the world and everything in it”. (24)  In other words, He is “the Lord of heaven and earth” (24) Therefore He needs no help nor requires nothing to exist.  He gives life and breath to all living things.
Isaiah 42:5, 6; 44:24; 45:18
The real God made heaven and earth.  He gives life to all living creatures. He takes our hand and leads us.  He makes us part of his chosen people.  He is the Lord.  There is no one else. Last week we saw that the Stoics taught that a man’s happiness consisted in bringing himself in harmony with the course of the universe. They thought that nature and God are identical.  The Universe is the only thing deserving the deepest kind of reverence.  They do not believe in a personal god or creator. They promoted the idea that god is better understood as a way of relating reverentially to nature and the universe. Nature itself is sacred. Paul here is telling them that the real God is different.  The real God made the whole world. God is completely dependent from all things.  God can exist by Himself. Even the heavens can’t contain Him. Therefore, no matter how large the Pantheon is it could never contain God.
2.      (vs. 26) The Lord of creation, the Great God has a personal relationship with each person. God controls history and in each age what countries there are, which countries will be strong, what kind of cultures will be there, and how history will flow is all determined by God. From the beginning of history, God has always been a part of it, and history is moving according to God’s plan. If you look at the Jewish history recorded in the Old Testament you can see this clearly.  God didn’t just create the world, but even today is leading through history.  Even us who live in this age, God is leading each individual one of us.
Paul says this again in verse 28. This is a quote from a Greek poet.  In 600 B.C. Epimenidus said this in his poem “Cretica”. In 300 B.C. Atatus said the same thing in his poem “Phaenomena”. Paul quoted these poems to share that God isn’t far from each of us.  He is close, in fact, He is living in us. God is not a being that is far from us.  The real God is the creator of the world, the Great God and even heaven can not contain Him, but at the same time, He is within us.  We live within Him and move and have our being in Him.
3. Paul gives his conclusion in verses 29-30 We were made by God, and are the offspring of God. “For in him we live and move and have our being.” (28) so therefore, it is unthinkable that God is “made by man’s design and skill” of gold or silver or stone. (29) A child can’t make anyone he wants his father.  A child’s father is his father.  In the same way, we were made by God and are the offspring of God so we can’t just make some other god to worship.  We need to worship the real God that created the world and us.
Next let’s look at why the Greeks missed seeing God
1.      (vs.27) They really didn’t seek God. If they would have sought God and reached out to Him, then they would have found Him. If we seek God, we will find Him.
Matt. 7:7-11
Are you really seeking God?  Are you really searching for God?  No matter who you are, if you seek, you will find Him.
2. 2.      (vs. 30)  If you are really seeking and don’t find God, it is because you are searching in the wrong place.  “Ignorance” means that the problem is not          that God did not introduce himself enough. The problem is on man’s side that he doesn’t know what he should naturally know.  “In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.” (30) The reason is given in verse 31.  Man can become righteous by believing in Christ who died for our sins and rose again.  He is inviting us to look to the cross and return to Him and repent.
Do you know the story, “The blessed yellow handkerchief” by Matsutake?  His wife miscarried and he couldn’t take it, got drunk and then got in a fight and killed the other person.  As a result he was arrested and put in jail.  Finally his sentence was over and he was released.  He bought a post card and wrote it to his wife saying that if she was still waiting for him to put up a yellow handkerchief. If there was no handkerchief hanging then he would never go near her again.  When he approached the place on the bus he was so scared to look outside that he asked other people riding on the bus to look for him. The other riders were astonished to see tens of yellow handkerchiefs hanging.  That was the message of love from his wife.
God like the yellow handkerchiefs has put up many crosses throughout the world.  He is telling us to look at them.  God loved us so much that he was willing to give up his son to die on the cross and this God is waiting for you.  You may even be seeking God, but you have not found him because you are searching in the wrong place.  It’s no good just to have a religious heart.  If you are trying to find God by your own strength, you won’t find Him.  Man seems to always be making other things gods, rather than looking towards the real thing.  Rather than searching for the real God, they make themselves the center, and they search for gods that fit their own personal needs.  There is no other way that we can know the real God but by the Bible which tells us about Him.
John 14:6
“I” is Jesus Christ.  There is no other way to know God, but through Jesus Christ.  Jesus is the only truth.  Also he is the only way to life and salvation.  He is the only name by which we can be saved. (Acts 4:12) What is important is not how much we believe or how deep a faith we have, but who we believe in and what we believe.
God “has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed.  He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.” (31) Therefore, we need to believe in Him.  “Sin” means missing the goal.  Our aim is off.  We need to change and aim at God.  This is repentance. Even “now he commands all people everywhere to repent.” (30) Return to God. Believe in God. Fear God and obey his commands.  This is everything.

III. Seeking the real God. (Vs. 32-34)
In other words, we need to seek the true God.  In verses 32-34 tell us the response of the Athenians to Paul’s message.  There are three different responses and in all ages men make the same type of responses toward the Gospel.
1.   “some of them sneered” (32) Some people hear that Jesus rose and they sneer because they think it is impossible.
2. Others say, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” (32) This type of person tries not to get involved. They want to just look on.  This type is quite common among us Japanese because we don’t like to argue.  This type of person, when he hears the Gospel, he won’t say that he disagrees; he just finds many different excuses for running away. “My kids are still small so I‘m too busy.”  “When I find the time, I’ll come.” etc.  These excuses always make believing in the future tense.  In reality no matter how long you wait they never believe.
3. “A few men became followers…and believed.” (vs.34)  The Bible tells us that there are some who did believe and followed Christ. There were a lot of people who sneered and some that refused to take any real interest, but there were some who did believe and followed Christ.  It was a small group, but even so, some people did believe in Christ, and followed Him. Here Dionysius and Damarius are mentioned.  Dionysius was a member of the Areopagus so he was used to listening to cases and always looked at whether there was proof for what was being said.  However, the important thing is not whether there is proof or not, but whether a person’s heart is prepared or not. In other words, whether a person has prepared his heart by repenting or not is what is important.
According to church history Dionysiu became the first pastor of the Athens church. In the 2nd and 3rd century, many great Christian leaders were a part of the Athenian church.  The influence that they had was greater than we will ever know.
We are living under the same circumstances as Athens.  There are few people that respond to the Gospel when we preach it.  There are those that sneer and others that make excuses.  The closer we get to the end times, the more and more these types of people will increase.  Even so, there are some who believe and follow Christ.  God is not an unknown god, but a God that can be known. Those who search for Him will find Him.  The important thing is whether we are searching for him or not and whether we are searching in the right places or not.  God has made us righteous through Jesus Christ who died on the cross for our sins and rose 3 days later. Jesus shows us God and is the way to God and salvation.  We need to have only an open heart towards Him. We need to search after him. Open your hearts to the only true God. Seek Him and believe in Him.
II Cor. 6:2
Now is the time.