Acts 17 - 18:18
December 4, 2014


Our prayers go out to the Dininny family today, as they lay Janet to rest.  Certainly she is enjoying the fruits of her labors in heaven.

Paul's missionary journey seems to be punctuated with expulsion.  If I am reading this correctly, Paul ministered in a town until they threw him out (generally, it didn't take very long).  I wonder if Paul asked where he should go next, or if he allowed the brothers from one town to pick a place for him.  Either way, it flies in the face of what we generally view as successful today.   Today, a successful ministry would be one in which there is peace and harmony, the community would either retain the minister, or he would be promoted or transferred to a different place, all with the approval of the majority.

 If an large group were to come to our leaders today and complain about the message we deliver, the minister would probably be moved to a new location, just like Paul.  But if it happened several times in several different communities, I think that minister would be released from the denomination.   In my minds eye, I see our leaders saying "listen, you have the right message, but the way you are sharing it is really working against you".    I wonder if Paul was one of those people.

On the other hand, if any of our ministers were to have the conversion success that Paul had, I don't think that they would ever lose the support of their leaders.   Maybe there's a lesson in there somewhere.

I also notice that Paul had a "common practice" when he visited a town.  He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath and spoke to the Jews, and he spent time in the marketplace throughout the week.
I think we have a pretty good idea about how to speak in the synagogue, but I wonder sometimes about our marketplace ministry.    I don't see Paul saying to the people "come to the synagogue on the Sabbath, and I will tell you more about Jesus".    In fact, I doubt that Paul invited most of them to the synagogue at all.   He would be more interested in having them meet together, encourage one another, and share this message with their friends.   After all, Paul expected the Lord to return at any time.   He wasn't worried about building a dynasty as some are today.

There's much we can learn from Paul about how the message of salvation should be spread.  The greatest thing we learn from Paul is the message itself, of course.  But we also learn that persecution, suffering, rejection and success are all closely woven together in God's perfect plan for the proclamation of His Word.    It is good for us to commit these "sub-themes" to memory as well, not forgetting the main theme of the passage, but learning from them as well.


PR