How Do You Witness In Sin City? (PM Lesson Outline)
GIST: Witness together while engaging the “real-world” even in the face of opposition and do so faithfully.
SCRIPTURE: Acts 18:1-8
This evening I want us to spend just a few minutes walking through the first part of Acts 18 together. Paul has left Athens and arrived in Corinth. If you’ve read 1 & 2 Corinthians, you might have a feel for what this environment was like. If not, let’s just say Corinth was a very large city, bigger, in fact, than Athens at the time. It didn’t boast the same cultural influence, but it boasted in something else...sin. Corinth was a hotbed of sexual immorality and debauchery. From what I’ve studied, calling someone a Corinthian at this time was meant as an insult, and if anyone performed as one in a classic play, they’d typically be portrayed as drunk. We’re entering sin city here. So, the question I want us to be asking is, “How do we witness in this kind of environment?” Because, let’s face it, Las Vegas might be called that, but Bonne Terre is no less sinful. We’re surrounded by sinful living being exalted as just status quo. What do we do? Let’s read just the first 8 verses today and then talk through a few points.
“1 After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them, 3 and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade. 4 And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks. 5 When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. 6 And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, "Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles." 7 And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue. 8 Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized.”
If I could give us a gist tonight, it would be this: Witness together while engaging the “real-world” even in the face of opposition and do so faithfully.
I. WITNESS TOGETHER (1-2)
“1 After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them…”
Priscilla and Aquila, the couple with the cute rhyming names, become frequent and close companions of Paul’s. What’s interesting here is that they appear to already have been Christians when they met Paul. When I was studying this week, I learned that Claudius commanded the Jews to leave Rome at this time because of an uprising amongst the Jews over someone the Roman historian Suetonius recorded as “Chrestus”. It is assumed these riots were the result of dispuits between Jewish believers and non-believers in Jesus Christ. (Remember, believers dispersed all over the world after Pentecost.)
What strikes me most about these two is precisely that...they’re always recorded as two. Paul joins them, then Timothy and Silas join them. Later, Apollos will join them. The Christians in this passage are always working together! More specifically, this couple was always serving together. There is a practical takeaway for our marriages there! You want to face a sinful world for Jesus? Don’t try and do it alone.
II. WHILE ENGAGING REAL-WORLD CONTEXTS (3-4)
Look at verses 3-4 again. “3 and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade. 4 And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.” We see the two occupations of Paul here. He’s a rabbi, a teacher of Scripture. Yet, every Jewish man was also expected to have a “trade”. His was tentmaking, or leather-working. So, he taught, and he worked. In both contexts, he’s sharing Jesus. This is not a knock on full-time pastors, but this should speak volumes to how we’re all called to live our lives for Jesus. We can’t engage a sinful world by expecting them to come and engage us. Your life (workplace and otherwise) is your mission field.
III. EVEN IN THE FACE OF OPPOSITION (5-6)
Should we be surprised that Paul faces persecution here? Of course not ☺️! “5 When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. 6 And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, "Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles."” Paul was proclaiming Jesus is clear and certain terms, and he faced opposition and slander because of it. Eventually, this led to him shaking the dust off his clothes. This was a sign of “washing his hands of them”. They were unclean, and it wasn’t his fault.
Now, he wasn’t abandoning them in the sense that they could never know the truth, but he was letting God‘s Word do the talking while he continued to witness to other people. I’m not going to lie, this is super hard for me. When do we know if people have rejected Jesus so much that we need to leave them alone? I can’t answer that, but there is a time and place for giving people space. However, and this is key, that only comes after we boldly proclaim the Gospel! I think it is a bigger danger to look at a passage like this and use it as an excuse not to even begin sharing the gospel. If you take this as, “Well, those people are just going to oppose, so I won’t even try.”, then you’re taking this completely out of context. Paul had been proclaiming, and it had been very clear. It was after that, that they chose to reject the Gospel. And, that’s when Paul moved on. That doesn’t mean he never shared with that ever again, but he just did not share with them at that moment any more. BUT, he was still sharing the Gospel with others. So, in the face of opposition, the Gospel’s proclamation might have moved, but it never ended!
IV. AND DO SO FAITHFULLY (7-8)
We’ll see this more next time, but because Paul didn’t stop, souls were saved.“7 And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue. 8 Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized.” Oh, that we would be that faithful!
TAKEAWAYS
Let’s just recap here. How do witness in sin city? Witness together while engaging the “real-world” even in the face of opposition and do so faithfully.
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