How Would My Life Change?
“How Would My Life Change?” – September 24th, 2023 (Acts 18)
Does it seem to you that Atlanta traffic has been worse than ever this year? Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve encountered heavy traffic recently at mid-morning, on weekends, and even after midnight. It’s easy to get caught up in the rush of our culture and our city and our circumstances and forget God’s invitation to us in Psalm 46:10, rendered so vividly in The Message translation: “Step out of the traffic! Take a long, loving look at me, your High God, above politics, above everything.” Today we’re going to walk through Acts chapter 18 and take some time to engage our imaginations and reflect upon how our lives might change if we stepped out of the traffic and turned our gaze more towards the Lord, his wisdom, and his direction.
Acts 18:1-4 (NRSV) – “After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. There he found a Jew named Aquila from Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, and, because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them, and they worked together—by trade they were tentmakers. Every Sabbath he would argue in the synagogue and would try to convince Jews and Greeks.”
The first line in this passage tells us that “Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.” I want to share a quick story with you from our visit to Athens in 2016. On one of our days there, we walked up to Mars Hill (aka The Areopagus) and the nearby Acropolis, the site of several ancient buildings including the Parthenon. These two hills are among the seven on which the city of Athens is built. We were dazzled by the stunning 360 views of the city on that memorably hot summer day. Even with sunglasses and hats, blinding light blazed on us from every direction, as many of the surrounding structures showered sunlight about. It was hot, very hot. We were so thirsty, eventually ran out of water, and sought relief wherever we could find shelter or refreshment. How would my life change if I sought shelter when I feel overwhelmed and refreshment when I need it?
We’re still following Paul on his second missionary journey. Pastor Nancy took us through Thessalonica, Berea, and Athens last week. Now Paul is heading from Athens to Corinth. This fifty-mile walk involved a descent from an elevation of over 1100 feet to 300 feet and would have taken Paul and his companions days to complete. Ancient Corinth had been one of the largest and most important cities of Greece until the Romans destroyed it in 146 BC. It had only been fairly recently rebuilt by Julius Caesar in 44 BC, this time as a Roman colony. That meant that citizens of Corinth were also citizens of Rome. Strategically located on an isthmus about halfway between Athens and Sparta, Corinth was an important location for trade and later became a provincial capital.
However, the backstory of how this colony got started is quite troubling. Just as Tiberius had done 30 years earlier, in approximately AD 51, Emperor Claudius expelled the Jewish community from Rome because their religion was seen as an enemy of the state religion. Their only two options were to leave or die. Many of these refugees who headed east from Rome would have ended up in Corinth. Certainly, there were non-Jews in Corinth, too, resulting in inevitable divisions. So, this community had been formed by the despised and divided. Luke keeps drawing our attention back to the diaspora and the pain of being forced out of one’s place of belonging.
In the economy of Ancient Rome, it was common practice for people of the same trade to live in the same part of town. They formed trade guilds, in which they worked together, ate together, and lived together. Like all institutions at that time, these guilds were associated with some religious cult, most often the cult of Minerva, according to Roman poet Ovid. As such, members were expected to participate in ritual sacrifices, offerings, and festivals. Today’s Scripture tells us that Paul “found a Jew named Aquila from Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla.” He probably felt great relief at having found a fellow Jew because at least he would not be expected to worship a false god with them. Maybe unsurprisingly, there was also a social stigma associated with being a resident alien or foreign national. When he met Aquila and Priscilla, Paul found welcome as an outsider among outsiders in this divided community. Our passage tells us that “Paul. . . stayed with them, and they worked together” How would my life change if I welcomed an outsider into my home?
Acts 18:5-7 (NRSV) – “When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with proclaiming the word, testifying to the Jews that the Messiah was Jesus. When they opposed and reviled him, in protest he shook the dust from his clothes and said to them, ‘Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the gentiles.’ Then he left the synagogue and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God; his house was next door to the synagogue.”
Notice that when Silas and Timothy arrived, Paul was able to shift the way he spent his time so that he could be “occupied with proclaiming the word, testifying to the Jews that the Messiah was Jesus.” More detail is added in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 11:9 (NRSV) – “when I was with you and was in need, I did not burden anyone, for my needs were supplied by the brothers who came from Macedonia.”
So we know that Paul came to Corinth and established a strong relationship with some fellow Jews, Priscilla and Aquila. He now has the extra financial support from the Macedonian Christians that enables him to focus on proclaiming and demonstrating the Good News of Jesus Christ. But now he encounters opposition and reviling. How very frustrating that must have been for Paul. Paul knew that the Good News of Jesus Christ was very, very good, the best gift he could possibly give to these Corinthian Jews and the best gift they could possibly receive. It reminds me of a phrase that Paul and I have encouraged each other when we’ve felt helpless watching someone make a choice that seems clearly less than God’s highest and best for them: “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.” To love someone is to acknowledge, respect, and accept that they have been given the same gift of free will that each of us has been given. No matter how good the gift being given, each person becomes a recipient only if they choose to receive it.
We may have a heart to reach particular individuals or groups, whether beloved family members, old friends, neighbors, a particular demographic group, a specific nation. God may allow us to do that. But it’s also possible that God may send us to reach other individuals or groups. And God may send someone else to reach the ones we had hoped to reach. In other words, no matter how much we love an individual or a group, God’s love is perfect and God will send whom he will to reach those precious people with his love and good news. God invites us to entrust our loved ones and all who are on our hearts into the wisdom, grace, love, and power of our all-good, all-knowing, ever-present, ever-active God. 1 Timothy 2:3b-4 (NRSV) – “God our Savior … desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” How would my life change if I entrusted my loved ones into God’s hands?
And then we come to a troubling part of this passage that has honestly been widely misapplied. What did Paul mean by shaking the dust from his clothes in response to the opposition and reviling he received? Nehemiah 5:13 tells us that Nehemiah “shook out the fold of my garment and said, ‘So may God shake out everyone from house and from property who does not perform this promise. Thus may they be shaken out and emptied.’” Shaking a garment was a prophetic way of warning people that if they violated God’s law, God would judge them. I’ve long wondered, though, whether God intended for Paul to just do the prophetic act of shaking the dust from his clothes while keeping his mouth shut. (As an aside, aren’t you glad that every word we’ve spoken isn’t recorded for the whole world to read?) Paul may well have heard the word of the Lord to go to the Gentiles, but Paul’s humanity comes out loud and clear in his words. We know in retrospect that Paul learned lessons of humility as he journeyed with Jesus. One of the defenses of the Bible being God’s word is that it makes no attempt to portray people with sanitized biographies. We see them as they were, warts and all. We see their struggles, often very relatable struggles, and that encourages us to try and to use and develop the gifts and graces God has given us. We see Bible characters in their failures as well as their successes, in their joys and in their messes, and it rings true – we are all works in progress! When Paul speaks here, “‘Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the gentiles,’” he is basically threatening to abandon them. Love sometimes feels like a threat of abandonment (consider the conditional if-then words throughout Scripture). But love never abandons, love never gives up. By telling the Corinthian Jews that their blood was on their own heads, he was basically saying, “Don’t blame me for whatever goes wrong in your lives!” By claiming his innocence, Paul is, in effect, saying that he’s done all that he could. Like I said earlier, Paul knew that God was now sending him to the Gentiles, and it was good for him to announce that. I’m just not sure that his first two sentences were necessary or bore good fruit in the long run. There is a lot of discussion about these things in biblical scholar circles, anyway. We do know that Paul has been opposed and reviled. He’s frustrated. He’s fatigued. He’s discouraged. He collapses. He gives up. It sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Jesus prayed on the Mount of Olives, right before his betrayal, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me” (Luke 22:42, NRSV). Jesus was fatigued. He was discouraged. He was anguished. His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground. And yet Jesus knew the Father and knew that God would not abandon the people he created and loves. Jesus went on to pray, “Yet not my will but yours be done.” And later, on the cross, Jesus again felt abandoned, as he prayed, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” To be human means that at times we will feel fatigued, discouraged, abandoned, forsaken. Jesus was fully God and fully human. We must remember that our feelings are not reliable. No matter what we feel, God will never abandon us. Rather, God has invited all of us, including those who feel abandoned, even those who feel that they deserve abandonment, to find our home in God. How would my life change if I was more careful with my words when I feel frustrated, fatigued, discouraged, or tempted to give up?
Notice that when Paul left the synagogue, he went all the way to . . . next door! It’s so important to realize that these words of Paul do not in any way indicate that God has turned his back on the Jews at this point. Nothing could be further from the truth. Paul’s admission of frustration here actually opens the way for Paul to join God’s mission in a broader way. By including both Jews and Gentiles, God’s call to come home is now known to be for all people! We continue on this mission with God today! The church is called to seek the flourishing of the community in which we live. God said these words to his people in exile: “seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare” (Jeremiah 29:7, NRSV). As we faithfully love and serve our neighbors, God will see to the flourishing of the church. The Kingdom of God is contagious. Contagions spread by close contact. But this contagion is not about disease, it’s about revolutionaries! Jesus turned the world upside down and we are invited to join this Jesus revolution, God’s mission right here, right now!
In a conversation I had earlier this week with a friend, a phrase tumbled out of my mouth that I think might be a keeper. “I give myself goals, and I give myself grace.” We don’t just sit around idly waiting for life to arrive. We pray, we ponder, we prepare. We make plans, expecting God to direct us. We set goals. And we do what we can to move towards those goals. But we also give ourselves grace when we are unable to meet those goals perfectly. God gives us good gifts and invites us to not only use them but develop them. How would my life change if I gave myself both goals and grace as I use and develop my gifts on God’s mission?
Acts 18:18a (NRSV) – “After staying there for a considerable time, Paul said farewell to the brothers and sisters and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila.”
Priscilla and Aquila, who, as we read earlier, had recently come from Italy, now join Paul to sail to Syria. It seems like this refugee couple Priscilla and Aquila caught the Kingdom contagion and decided to go “all in” in spreading the gospel! The more we engage in proclaiming and demonstrating the good news of Jesus, the more that desire grows in us. I want to challenge us to consider: what is motivating us to do what we do? May we have the courage to set aside less important things and allow the love of Christ to urge us on. Think about ordinary routines of our lives, like going to the grocery store. We could focus on getting the things on our list, pay, and leave. Or we could slow down a little and ask God to show us what he’s doing and join him in that. Maybe the Lord will direct us to take time to listen to someone’s story and encourage them in some way. Maybe Jesus will invite us to help someone with a financial need. How would my life change if I asked and acted on, “Lord, show me what you’re doing”?
Acts 18:22-23 (NRSV) – “When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up to Jerusalem and greeted the church and then went down to Antioch. After spending some time there he departed and went from place to place through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.”
It takes some knowledge of the geography and climate of that region of the world (I had to look this up) to realize that this description gives us a clear indication of what time of year this journey must have taken place: late spring or early summer. It was only after the snow melted from the Taurus mountains that the land route opened up from Antioch to Galatia and Phyrgia.
It’s been said that faith is spelled “r-i-s-k.” It always involves risk to go from where we’re comfortable to somewhere else. When we do something different, we challenge the status quo. In order to truly follow Jesus, we need to understand that we will probably be challenged to demonstrate our allegiance to Jesus in ways that make other people feel uncomfortable. Our everyday lives will be disrupted. C. S. Lewis claims that “things never happen the same way twice.” I suspect that he’s right. God, the creator of all that there is, is not limited to a finite set of possibilities. To follow Jesus is to enlist in a Kingdom adventure that goes beyond our wildest dreams. How would my life change if I paid attention to the time and season that I’m in and took the risk to trust and follow Jesus wherever he leads me?
Acts 18:24-28 (NRSV) – “Now there came to Ephesus a Jew named Apollos from Alexandria. He was an eloquent man, well-versed in the scriptures. He had been instructed in the Way of the Lord, and he spoke with burning enthusiasm and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him they took him aside and explained the Way of God to him more accurately. And when he wished to cross over to Achaia, the brothers and sisters encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. On his arrival he greatly helped those who through grace had become believers, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the scriptures that the Messiah is Jesus.”
Here we meet a fellow named Apollos, who, although Jewish, had been given a popular name because of its association with the Olympian deity Apollo, who was known as the god of archery, music and dance, truth and prophecy, healing and diseases, the sun and light, poetry, and more. This Apollos, we are told, was eloquent, which was the way ancient Greeks described those who were formally skilled in rhetoric, “the art of persuasion.” Apollos was also well-versed in Scripture, as was common for Jewish boys at that time. Beyond all this, we are also told that Apollos “had been instructed in the Way of the Lord, and he spoke with burning enthusiasm and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus.” So far so good! May we each be as diligent in study and as devoted to the Spirit and as detailed in the specifics as Apollos! There was just one thing Apollos lacked, and that was an understanding that Messiah had come, and his name was Jesus of Nazareth. Emmanuel, God with us, the one whom Apollos had waited for his entire life, had come! Refugees Priscilla and Aquila noticed this, and this pastor couple took Apollos aside to explain the way of God to him more accurately. After that, the church there wrote a super reference for Apollos which they sent ahead so he’d be welcomed as a brother in Christ and received as an apologist for the Kingdom. Since this is my final point, I’ll end with a triple play: How would my life change if I was receptive to others speaking into my life when they notice something amiss? How would my life change if I helped someone else understand a little better who Jesus is? How would my life change if I spoke up on someone else’s behalf, so that Kingdom opportunities would open up for them?
The Acts journey goes on. There are so many treasures to mine in each and every part of Scripture. We’ve talked about just a few today. Let’s not be just hearers of the word but also doers. We’re going to pause now to listen to the Lord and respond. You may want to sit quietly. You may want to stand in a receptive posture, as an outward sign of your inward desire to receive whatever the Lord wants to give you. You may want to pray for someone. You may want to come up here and share an encouraging word with us all. The Lord is present with us, and the Lord is good. Come, Holy Spirit!
