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Sermon Notes of Rev.Dr.I.J.W.Oakley (21-11-1999 Guisborough Evangelical Church)
From Athens, Paul travelled 40 miles west to Corinth.
Athens was the cultural centre, and Corinth was the commercial centre. On a
narrow isthmus, Corinth had two great harbours. Roads also merged there, so
Roman soldiers, traders and business men were always passing through. The
Isthmian Games were held there in honour of Poseidon, the god of the seas. The
city also had political importance for it was the capital of the Roman province
of Achaia.
Paul visited Corinth three times in all, and he wrote four letters to the church there (we only have the second and the fourth). The church established here gave him many headaches, and made demands on his ability and leadership. We are going to consider Paul’s first visit, which lasted 18 months. Our focus is Paul’s ministry, the kind of person he was, the message he preached, and the encouragement he received. Some of the things are not directly relevant to our needs, but there is something in the message for everyone.
We get the picture of an extremely busy man, spending
and being spent for his Lord. He was busy with his pen, for it was while in
Corinth that he wrote his two letters to the Thessalonians. He made no money
from preaching and teaching, so he had to be busy with his hands, making tents
(every Jewish rabbi had to have a trade), to maintain himself. Though Paul had
the right to be maintained, he made the point several times that he preferred to
maintain himself rather than be a burden to the struggling churches. Whether we
have a salary in Christian work, or life by faith, there is a lesson here about
being thoughtful to those on whom we depend.
So Paul was busy with the pen, and busy with his hands
labouring. He was also busy with his heart and lips. He was burdened with the
desire to preach God’s Word, and he reasoned every Sabbath, trying to persuade
the Jews and the Greeks. I am compelled to preach (1 Corinthians 9:16).
It was a necessity laid on him. Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel. When
the Jews rejected the message and blasphemed, Paul shook his clothes, to show he
was clear of the responsibility, and their blood was on their own heads.
Henceforth, he would preach to the Gentiles (Acts 18:6).
Happy the man or woman, preacher, Sunday School teacher,
parent or witness who has made the way of salvation clear, who has presented
Christ’s claims without ambiguity, who has loved, pleaded, warned and lived
out the message. If the listener has refused, it is his own responsibility, it
is spiritual suicide. But on the last day he will not be able to say, “You
failed me; you never told me.”
John Harper (who died on the Titanic) was said to have believed what he preached and preached what he believed; God and eternal things were so real to him that he lived and preached “as if Christ died yesterday, rose today, and is coming again tomorrow.” Richard Baxter’s earnestness in preaching was explained, “He preached as if never sure he would preach again, a dying man to dying men.” There were no cold moral lessons from him given in an academic detached manner. His preaching was warm, earnest and real. He was free from the blood of all men.
The city of Corinth was one of Paul’s hardest
assignments. It was the most licentious city in Greece, hence the proverb “To
live as a Corinthian”, implying an immoral life. The Corinthian was always
portrayed as the drunkard on the Greek stage, and the Corinthian girl was a
prostitute. The whole system of evil was bound up with religion. The 1000
priestesses in the Temple of Aphrodite by day were the chief entertainers in the
city by night. No wonder Paul felt the odds were against him, and he came in
fear and trembling (1 Corinthians 2:3).
I resolved to know nothing while I was with you
except Jesus Christ and him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2) – this was
Paul’s message. It was his one and only message, whether he was speaking to
Jew or Gentile, moral or immoral, religious or irreligious. The one thing which
mattered in time and eternity was a man’s relationship with God. He was lost
because of his sin, whether he was respectable or not, he was under
condemnation, and helpless to save self.
Such is God’s love for every man. The answer to
man’s need is Christ’s sin-bearing death. All sins – vice, ungodliness,
pride and self-righteousness - are laid on Him. On the grounds of His death, you
can be forgiven, reconciled to God, have new life, become a child of God, have
your destiny changed from hell to heaven. Hate sin, live for God, the old man,
i.e. the old self, is brought to an end. The new man has new power to live a
God-honouring, holy life.
The sense of debt is the strongest emotion in the New
Testament. If the truth of it sinks in, it changes the whole life. James Denney
said, “Whoever says He bore our sins, says substitution. Whoever says
substitution speaks of an immeasurable debt to the Christian.”
There was no other message Paul could bring to Corinth,
with its culture, morality and philosophy. There was no other message they
needed to hear, other than how to be right with God, how to be filled with the
life and power of God, how to clear the debts of the past, hate sin, and live
unto Christ.
And it remains the only message to deal with our own day
and generation. Education is not the answer, neither are moral precepts and
social values. The root of trouble is human sin, and the only power strong
enough to deal with it is divine grace. We are all alike, whether lost in vulgar
and vile, or “respectable” sins.
One day a lady of high fashion listened to Rowland Hill
preaching to a vast audience in the open air. She told her coachman to stop the
carriage, and she asked the preacher, “Do I understand that I need to be saved
as much as my coachman on the box?” “Precisely, madam, there is no
difference in the sight of God between you and him.” She tossed her head,
“Then I will never be saved. Drive on, John” – and she drove on – to
hell.
“O
wonder of all wonders
That
through Thy death for me
My
open sins, my secret sins,
Can
all forgiven be.”
It was an uphill and heart-breaking task. Often Paul was
downcast. Amidst the persecution of the Jews, and the problems of awkward and
difficult church members, Paul had great need of assurance and comfort and
support. And the Lord graciously supplied this in two ways – human source and
divine source.
A married couple, Priscilla and Aquilla (unusual for the
woman’s name to come first, but maybe she was the more gifted or the stronger
character), who had been expelled from Rome by Emperor Claudius with the rest of
the Jews, welcomed Paul into their home and supported him. Later they moved with
him to Ephesus on the third missionary journey, where they instructed Apollos,
leading him into deeper understanding of the Gospel, making him more able to
witness and preach (Acts 18:18,26,28). In Corinth the church met in Priscilla
and Aquilla’s house (1 Corinthians 16:19), and Paul described them as my
fellow-workers in Christ Jesus. They risked their lives for me (Romans
16:3,4).
This couple were totally consecrated to the Lord and to
the Gospel. They encouraged, taught and opened their home. There is a place for
all kinds of people, single as well as married, to follow their example. But
there is no doubt of the blessing to the work of God and to preachers of a
consecrated marriage. Christian families are the backbone of the church. Their
homes are a haven of peace and security.
There was also divine aid to give Paul encouragement
when he needed it. One night the Lord spoke 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, because I have many people in this city." (Acts
18:9,10). With that assurance, Paul stayed for a year and a half, teaching the
Word of the Lord. God’s plan was not going to be set aside by man’s
opposition. God had His people there – a reference to election, For those
God foreknew he also predestined (Romans 8:29). They were not yet saved, so
Paul had to stay on and preach and bring in the promised harvest.
If God has placed us in a situation and in
circumstances, our confidence is that, as we go, there is a sure harvest to be
reaped. The Lord’s presence will go with us, protecting and blessing the
message. When God gives a task, He promises His presence and power to do it. In
the presence and power of God we find courage, strength and power to persevere,
to keep on keeping on.
So through life God comes to us again and again, directing and heartening. John G.Paton, missionary to the cannibal islands of the South Seas, wrote, “Without the abiding consciousness of the presence and power of my dear Lord and Saviour, nothing else could have preserved me from losing my reason and perishing miserably. I felt His supporting power as Paul did when I cried, ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.’ Oh the bliss of seeing Him who is invisible.”
Paul’s service was thorough, conscientious and faithful. His message was Christ, and for support he knew the encouragement of fellow Christians and the Lord Himself.
